Heavy artillery and warplanes have been pounding Grozny for days, sending residents fleeing with white flags or forcing them to take shelter in cellars, but rebels appear determined to hold the city which is not yet completely surrounded.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Koshman, the government's special representative in Chechnya, told NTV commercial television that civilians had been offered a corridor to escape the intensified attacks. "I think there are still people there, but it is not a large number, and for these people a corridor has been left in agreement with federal forces," Koshman said, adding leaflets had been scattered around the city informing people of this.