The Kremlin warned Chechnya Tuesday to prepare for further attacks, after Russian warplanes targeted residential neighborhoods and administrative buildings in the secessionist republic's capital.
A Chechen spokesman said 120 people were killed in three overnight air raids on Grozny, the radio station Echo Moscow reported. A Russian helicopter was shot down Tuesday, killing two military doctors and a crewman, the ITAR-Tass news agency said, citing a government spokesman.Protesting the escalating Russian offensive, more than 100,000 Chechen civilians formed a human chain Tuesday running for miles along the main road across Chechnya. Many held hands and sang; some held placards with messages such as "Freedom For Chechnya" and "We Will Not Surrender."
The protest was called by beleaguered Chechen President Dzho-khar Dudayev, who denounced the Russians for the "mass killing of peaceful citizens."
After a lull in fighting overnight by the ground troops approaching the capital from two directions, heavy gunfire was heard near dawn from the northern and northeastern outskirts of the city.
Dudayev denounced the Russian attacks. The presidential press service quoted Dudayev as saying Chechens are irate over "the mass killing of peaceful citizens - children, women and old people," ITAR-Tass said.
Dudayev and his supporters continued to ignore Moscow's demands that they disarm, even as the capital's misery increased.
Emergency crews rushed about Grozny, putting out fires and trying to restore electricity following the Russian attacks. Anxious Chechens inspected their ruined homes and huge craters left by bombs, as a light snow fell.
"You can see everything for yourself. What shall we do?" asked Gelani Bochayev, a 64-year-old pensioner whose nephew's family was killed by a bomb in their apartment near the city center.
There were few people on the streets. Some waited for the few buses still operating. Chechen fighters set up positions inside the city, filling bottles with gasoline to make "Chechen moonshine" fire-bombs.
Russian officials say their goal is to blockade Grozny rather than overtake it. But a Kremlin statement Tuesday said missile attacks on strategic targets, such as power plants, refineries and ammuntion dumps, would continue.