RUSSIAN troops battled to drive separatist rebels out of the Chechen capital yesterday but made little headway as they ran into a wall of resistance. Up to 1,000 casualties were sustained, with 169 confirmed dead.
A sixth day of fierce street fighting raged with no sign of the guerrillas retreating in the face of relentless shelling. The bodies of many Russian soldiers were sprawled beside wrecked armoured vehicles near the city centre.
In Moscow, the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, held crisis talks with President Boris Yeltsin and said "radical measures should be taken to end the fighting.
Interfax news agency quoted Mr Chernomyrdin as saying Russian forces in Chechnya, where separatist rebels are fighting for total independence of Moscow, should be reinforced. But he also said reinforcement should not violate Mr Yeltsin's decree on the settlement of the Chechen crisis, Interfax said.
The Prime Minister gave the Justice Ministry three days to consider the question of introducing a state of emergency in Grozny.
Gen Alexander Lebed, Mr Yeltsin's new personal representative on Chechnya, later headed for the Dagestan region bordering Chechnya to examine the situation in the North Caucasus", Tass added.
Interfax quoted Russia's military command as saying between 170 and 200 federal troops had been killed so far in the rebel offensive. Russian commanders say hundreds of rebels have been killed. But both sides in the 20 month conflict have tended to exaggerate their opponents' losses.
After another day of conflicting reports, the situation in Grozny remained confused. Rebel sources told Interfax that the separatists had wiped out a Russian military convoy in the Kurchaloi region southeast of Grozny, killing about 150 soldiers. But no confirmation was available.
The streets were mostly deserted of residents who either fled or cowered in basements. The city is slowly dying. Food supplies, available in the first few days of the fighting, are running out. Power and water supplies are also dwindling.
Some of the fiercest fighting in more than a year in the North Caucasus region has been near the headquarters of the pro Moscow Chechen government.
Russian troops broke through to the area yesterday morning to evacuate wounded and remove bodies. But the sound of mortar and machine gun fire indicated neither side controlled the area.
The local mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters newsagency it was trying to organise a convoy today to evacuate 400 civilians and wounded from Grozny.
. The Government, on behalf of the European Union, has expressed serious concern over the situation in Chechnya and appealed to both the Russian Army and the Chechen separatists to call an immediate ceasefire, writes Deaglan de Breadun, Political Reporter.
"The EU appeals to both sides in the conflict to institute an immediate ceasefire. It further calls for a return by the parties to the negotiating table," a statement issued by the Irish presidency of the EU said.
The statement called for measures to ensure the safety of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) assistance group in Chechnya. The group could "play an important part in bringing about a renewed ceasefire".
"The EU also urges that the humanitarian organisations working in Chechnya be granted the access necessary for them to pursue their tasks unhindered," the statement said.