The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, last night again vowed the continuation of NATO's military action until Serbia complies with its demand to halt its attacks on Albanian civilians in Kosovo.
Speaking during a visit to the RAF Lossiemouth base in northeast Scotland, Mr Blair said: "We have set very clear objectives and they are simple objectives and the right objectives.
"He [President Milosevic] must withdraw his forces, he must allow an international force into Kosovo, and we must ensure that those people who have been dragged out of Kosovo, driven out of it, are allowed back in. And we will carry on this campaign until those objectives are achieved."
However the Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Paddy Ashdown, insisted NATO ground troops should go into Kosovo now, in face of the worsening refugee crisis - with, or without, the agreement of President Milosevic.
Confessing his pessimism about the crisis, Mr Ashdown said: "In the end I'm absolutely clear on this. We cannot have peace in Kosovo unless troops are on the ground to secure that peace. We can't be in a position where we can't put troops into Kosovo unless President Milosevic agrees. It is a monstrous situation."
Mr Ashdown, a former soldier, said: "I don't think it's possible to say what the out turn of this military campaign, which has some way to go yet, will be."
But he told Radio 4's Today programme: "What I do think is now beginning to dawn on the Western nations is that we have to be prepared to put troops into Kosovo even if Milosevic disagrees."
Mr Ashdown said the Serb decision to close the Kosovo border was another "worry" rather than an attempt to sue for peace: "I think the next sight we are about to see is those terrified and pitiful people being used as human shields. When you see a convoy of tanks on the roads in Kosovo, which NATO aircraft might like to take on, you will find interleaved between each tank a tractor of terrified Albanian women and children."
The Lib Dem leader continued: "There are some terrible decisions I think we may have to take in the very near future."
He said the Macedonian government had been guilty of "a pitiless act" in expelling refugees, which had "piled misery upon humanity and bitterness upon atrocity."
But he called on the West to help Macedonia deal with the refugee crisis: "The particular situation in Macedonia is now deteriorating very fast, where they are saying `We are not going to allow you to reinforce on the Macedonian border."'
Urging the West to help Macedonia move the refugees into Albania, where their security could be guaranteed, Mr Ashdown said it would be easier to ensure the eventual return of the Kosovo Albanians to their homes than if they were dispersed throughout Europe.
However he repeated that he had no objection to Kosovo Albanians requiring urgent medical treatment being brought to Britain. And he said NATO had been right to reject President Milosevic's offer of a ceasefire, saying: "He is playing his usual subtle, cynical and devious game."
Meanwhile three Labour MPs - Ms Alice Mahon, Mr Tony Benn and Mr Tam Dalyell - last night said NATO was "intent upon destroying the infrastructure of the Yugoslav economy." And in a statement on behalf of the Committee for Peace - which will stage a demonstration against the war in London on Sunday afternoon - the MPs said it was "unreasonable" to expect Yugoslavia to accept a NATO force in Kosovo. Such a force, they argued, must be under United Nations auspices, and with a sizeable Russian contingent.
Two Danes from the flight squadron taking part in NATO's air strikes against Yugoslavia became husband and wife at the Grazzanise air base in Italy on Wednesday, the tabloid B.T. reported yesterday.