RUSSIAN troops fought hand to hand with Chechen separatist guerrillas in the centre of Grozny yesterday after army units took up defensive positions around regional government headquarters.
Itar-Tass news agency said armoured vehicles moved into the city centre at 12 p.m. (local time) to help beleaguered interior ministry and pro Moscow police hold off the rebels offensive.
"The situation has seriously deteriorated. Clashes are going on effectively in every district of the Chechen capital." Interfax news agency said, quoting a security official in Moscow.
Tass quoted the Russian installed military commandant of Chechnya as saying 70 Russian and pro Russian Chechen servicemen had been killed since the offensive on Wednesday.
The report of hand to hand fighting in the centre of Grozny came only a few hours after President Yeltsin said he was trying to put together a peace plan for Chechnya.
Mr Yeltsin, emerging from a session of his policy making Security Council, said he and his inner circle of ministers had approved a blueprint to end the conflict.
But, he said, full details of the plan for "achieving peace through stabilisation" would only be available towards the end of March. Meanwhile, those guilty of murders and "terrorist activities" would be held to account.
In Grozny, heavy explosions could be heard coming from the city centre. Russian soldiers manning a concrete enforced checkpoint outside the city were jumpy and appeared to have had little sleep.
Guerrillas in woollen masks, with Islamic green headbands and carrying Kalashnikov weapons and grenade launchers, were only about 200 metres from the checkpoint.
They were chatting to local children and said they were in control of the area.
Separatist guerrillas had encircled several interior ministry checkpoints, Interfax news agency said. Moscow says there are between 600 and 700 fighters in the town.
Interfax's source said the situation had dramatically worsened, with interior ministry units running out of ammunition.
The Chechen (pro Moscow) police are effectively unable to carry out combat operations as the rebels' barrage of fire is forcing them back into their hideouts," Interfax quoted the ministry official as saying.
Mr Abdula Bugayev, deputy head of the pro Moscow Chechen government said "quite a number of dead bodies of civilians and servicemen" were lying on the streets of Grozny.