War in the Balkans: Briefing: Day 69

Kosvovo Albanian refugees said up to 3,000 ethnic Albanian men were being held in Lipljan, a southern Kosovo prison, where guards played loud music to cover the inmates' screams.

The Alliance for Changes, Serbia's main opposition grouping, urged the Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, to take steps to end the Kosovo crisis and call elections as soon as possible.

The Russian Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, discussed the Kosovo crisis with the US President, Bill Clinton, by telephone.

Seven missiles hit the Leskovac region of central Serbia. Two missiles hit the village of Medje, near Leskovac, 145 miles south-east of Belgrade. Minutes later, five missiles were fired on two suburbs in Leskovac.

The German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, said he saw progress in diplomatic efforts to end the Kosovo crisis. Mr Fischer said: "Things are starting to move in a way that they haven't been moving before."

Hundreds of Kosovarscrossed the Adriatic to Italy, joining the 10,000 who arrived in May alone. Italian forces patrolling the southern coast of Puglia intercepted more than 400 by midday.