The Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon said that NATO must consider other military options if the Kosovo air campaign does not achieve its objectives by the autumn. He said that the United States also wants a rapid build-up of the NATO force in Macedonia, which would be deployed to secure the return of ethnic Albanian refugees to Kosovo.
NATO has acknowledged it bombed a prison in northern Kosovo. Yugoslavia says the air strike killed nineteen people including the deputy governor. Nato said that the complex housed a Yugoslav army and police post. Following the bombing, the German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has called for a review of Nato's targeting policy.
Pakistan is reported to be lodging a protest with NATO authorities after it said that its mission in Belgrade was slightly damaged during overnight bombing. However, the building had not been functioning as an embassy. No one was injured.
In a deliberate show of unity, the British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have said that their governments are in complete agreement over NATO's strategy in the Balkans, including the use of ground troops. They stressed their continuing support for NATO's air campaign, despite reports that the Swiss Ambassador's residence was damaged in the latest strikes on Belgrade.
It was reported that the Swiss ambassador's residence in Belgrade was damaged during an overnight NATO bombing raid. Reports say the attack on a nearby fuel depot occurred during a reception at the residence but there were no reports of injuries. Yugoslav media said one civilian was killed and several others injured in a NATO air raid on the northern Serbian town of Sombor.
More talks aimed at solving the Kosovo crisis are to take place in Moscow today. The Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou is due to meet the Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Moscow's Balkans envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin. They will continue to discuss how to narrow the differences between Russia and western countries on how to implement a joint peace plan for the province. Negotiations involving Russia, the United States and Finland were adjourned without agreement, early today.
