The US has rejected the Yugoslav call for a pause in NATO bombing and has insisted that NATO must be "at the core" of any future peacekeeping force to escort Kosovo refugees back to their homes.
The US Defence Secretary, Mr William Cohen, said the bombing would only stop when President Milosevic accepted all of NATO's demands. "A pause would only serve Milosevic's interest. He is seeking to try and divide the alliance. He is seeking delay. We are now at the point where the air campaign is being intensified on a 24-hour basis."
Yugoslavia, in a letter to the German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, yesterday said it was ready to accept the principles for a settlement set out by the G7 countries and Russia which called for an international civil and security presence in Kosovo under the UN as part of a Serb forces withdrawal but made no mention of NATO.
Mr Cohen said yesterday that "by being at the core, that mean there must be a command and control structure that is NATO's in charge of any peacekeeping operation".
The US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, after meeting the Italian Foreign Minister, Mr Lamberto Dini, said the US and Italy were "solidly behind" the NATO objectives and "will not settle for less".
Mr Dini, who is visiting Washington, said Italy was not proposing a pause in NATO's bombing until Mr Milosevic accepted all the conditions set out by the alliance. "We cannot, at this point, fall into negotiating tricks."
Helen Kingham writes from Brussels: While diplomatic decisions were being finalised in Bonn yesterday, the KLA was at bay on Mount Pastrik surrounded by Serb troops. The sky was crowded with NATO aircraft targeting the Serbs.
The battle became so fierce that it spilled over into Albania, bringing NATO aircraft with it. This resulted in NATO bombing Serb troops in Albanian territory, with Albanians running for cover.
NATO acknowledged last night that it had accidentally bombed inside Albania while in pursuit of Serb troops and offered apologies to the Albanian government. An Albanian army post was damaged but no one was injured.
The KLA has been watching for NATO aircraft in recent weeks and when they see them coming, they mount ground attacks on hidden Serb posts, flushing them out so NATO planes can see them. So successful has this strategy been that, although the KLA has taken heavy losses, it has retaken three villages and is managing to safeguard refugees in the hills.
None of the convoys which have entered Kosovo with aid packages for both Serb and ethnic Albanian people has succeeded in getting any food to the people hiding in the hills. "All food has been confiscated by Serbs, and some of it has been found for sale in markets but not to ethnic Albanians," claimed NATO spokesman Dr Jamie Shea.