GROZNY, Russia -- Warplanes fired rockets into the capital of the rebellious republic of Chechnya early today as Russian troops fought their way toward the city, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the early morning attack, which came after Russian planes bombed the outskirts of Grozny yesterday and attempts to start peace talks failed.
In today's attack, at least two rockets reportedly exploded in Chechen leader Dzhokhar Dudayev's neighborhood, ITAR-Tass reported from Grozny. It said the blasts were heard in the city center and broke windows of apartment buildings.
In a report from Mozdok, the Russian force's headquarters, ITAR-Tass said troops were advancing on Grozny in fighting with separatist Chechen forces, but it wasn't clear how far they were from the city.
Some Russian soldiers had vowed not to advance on Grozny, even if it meant refusing orders. But it was not clear if any did so.
Chechen officials said Russian helicopter gunships attacked villages on the eastern outskirts of Grozny early today, the Interfax news agency reported.
The intensified fighting was a clear sign that Moscow's patience was coming to an end. Hour's before today's air attack, President Boris N. Yeltsin's chief of staff warned President Dudayev that he had only "several hours" in which to order his men to lay down their arms.
Both sides had talked about negotiating earlier yesterday but neither agreed to do so.
The Russian government even invited Mr. Dudayev to come to Mozdok to meet with Nikolai Yegorov, deputy prime minister, and Sergei Stepash in, chief of counterintelligence.
Mr. Dudayev countered by inviting Mr. Yeltsin to send a personal representative to Grozny. Late last night, the Russian government appeared to break off contact, saying: "There will be no more answers to Dzhokhar Dudayev's telegrams."
Because of poor communications -- and efforts by the Russian military to obstruct journalists in the region -- it was difficult to get a clear idea of yesterday's fighting.
Jets and helicopters were hampered by bad weather that moved in during the afternoon, the Itar-Tass news agency said. Earlier they had attacked five bridges over the Terek River as well as sites near the capital, the agency said.
Mr. Dudayev said last night that the broadcasting center in Grozny had come under attack, and television stations reported that Russian bombs had hit a power station, plunging into darkness many of the city's 400,000 residents.
Four more Russian soldiers were reportedly killed yesterday, raising the total to 20 in the offensive, which began in the oil-rich, Caucasus Mountain region Dec. 10.
There were no official casualty reports on the Chechens, but reports reaching here yesterday also said that nine refugees who were trying to flee Chechnya were killed Saturday night by drunken Russian troops.
The incident occurred in the village of Nesterovskaya, about 30 miles from Grozny. Bloody footprints led from three crushed cars to bushes along the road, and the ground was littered with spent machine gun cartridges, the Associated Press said.
Lt. Gen. Valery Vostrokin, a deputy minister at Russia's Ministry for Emergency Situations, told Russian reporters that five men and four women were killed.
Elsewhere, the flow of refugees was becoming a torrent. Officials in the neighboring Ingush semi-autonomous region said that 67,200 refugees had registered with them already, and they expect the total to climb past 100,000 in a few days. That would represent almost 10 percent of Chechnya's population.
Yegor T. Gaidar, leader of the Russia's Choice bloc of reformist legislators, called on Russians to turn out for street demonstrations against the Chechen operation.
"The main thing we can do today is to organize a mass protest which would force the executive authorities, force the president, to understand what kind of tragic madness they are being pushed into," he said.
Sergei Kovalyov, chairman of the State Duma's human rights committee, remained in Grozny yesterday as a witness and potential liaison to Mr. Dudayev's government. Presidential aides had reportedly tried to cajole the parliamentary leader into returning to Moscow, but he refused.
Mr. Kovalyov, a highly respected figure here who served time in Soviet prison camps, is apparently serving as an unwelcome reminder to the Russian government of the unpopularity of the military campaign.
Polls, whose reliability here is not always ironclad, suggest that solid majorities of Russians oppose the attack on Chechnya.
Several weeks ago, the defense minister, Gen. Pavel Grachev, said that the Chechen question could be settled by a couple of divisions of paratroopers in a matter of hours.
Now, after a week of bluster and threats, of ultimatums and deadlines, of poor military organization and doubts over morale, it appears that the forces of the Russian government may be tied down for quite a bit longer than those in the thickets of the north Caucasus.