Russia unleashed air and missile strikes on Grozny yesterday, striking the heart of the Chechen capital as federal forces attempted to pound the besieged city into submission.
Russian military sources said two cruise missiles were fired at Grozny from a military base near the North Ossetian city of Mozdok, the second missile attack on Grozny in six days.
Moments later, huge explosions resounded in the city similar to those recorded last Thursday when it came under Russian rocket fire that killed nearly 140 people and wounded another 260.
Moscow military sources refused to either confirm or deny the attack. But only moments before the Grozny blasts, President Boris Yeltsin appeared on Russian television vowing to crush Chechen rebel forces once and for all.
"We want to put an end to terrorism once and for all, to end international terrorism in Chechnya so that the people live there calmly and in peace," Mr Yeltsin said from the Kremlin.
Grozny earlier yesterday came under heavy artillery bombardment apparently launched by Russian forces who have taken control of surrounding hills. It was followed by a two-hour airborne bombing raid and the cruise missile attack.
A Chechen military press spokesman, Mr Vakha Ibragimov, said the latest Russian bombardments killed 112 people and wounded another 225. However, those figures could not be independently confirmed as it remained impossible for journalists to move about the ravaged city.
Mr Ibragimov said one of the missiles crashed near the house of the Chechen warlord, Mr Shamil Basayev, whom Moscow has branded its public enemy No 1 since a wave of apartment-block bombings in September. Russian generals have promised a $1 million bounty for Mr Basayev's death.
But Grozny sources said the field commander escaped the explosion unharmed.
In an interview conducted four hours before the latest attacks, the heaviest since the 1994-1996 war, President Aslan Maskhadov of Chechnya told journalists that Russia's military efforts were doomed to failure.
Mr Maskhadov also defiantly declared that he was breaking off contact with Moscow, saying: "It is useless to hold talks with [the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Vladimir] Putin because he is only looking for revenge."
Russian sources said federal troops were within sight of Grozny and had entered three suburbs in the western part of the city.
The Russian push into Chechnya has won Mr Putin tremendous approval among the Russian electorate and has been further aided by favourable Moscow media coverage. He has, however, come under critical scrutiny during talks last week with the EU in Finland.