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NORFOLK, VIRGINIA (EmergencyNet News) - POTUS on Thursday said the United States would hold Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic personally responsible for the safety of the three captured U.S. soldiers. The President said: "President Milosevic should make no mistake, the United States takes care of its own. President Milosevic should make no mistake, we will hold him and his government responsible for their safety and for their well being."

SERBIA (EmergencyNet News) - Yugoslavia said on Thursday that three captured U.S. soldiers would face a military court Friday as top NATO officials vowed to continue their aerial bombardment of the defiant Balkan nation. The official news agency Tanjug quoted Jovica Jovanovic, the chief Serb justice official in Kosovo, as saying "criminal proceedings will start against three U.S. soldiers tomorrow before a competent military court." No further information was immediately available.

WASHINGTON (EmergencyNet News) - U.S. officials said on Thursday that the United States is considering airdrops of humanitarian supplies inside Kosovo to ethnic Albanians, including members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, under attack by Serbs.

From the ERRI Watch Center

SERBIA (EmergencyNet News) - As top NATO officials vowed to continue their aerial bombardment of the Balkan nation, Yugoslavia said Thursday that three captured U.S. soldiers would face a military court on Friday.

The official news agency Tanjug quoted Jovica Jovanovic, the chief Serb justice official in Kosovo, as saying "criminal proceedings will start against three U.S. soldiers tomorrow before a competent military court." No further information was immediately available.

The United States immediately responded by saying that any attempt to put the three servicemen on trial would be "ridiculous" and a violation of international law. After Serbian television ran footage showing the soldiers -- two sergeants and a private -- bruised and beaten, POTUS said Washington would hold Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic responsible for their safety.

The President said: "President Milosevic should make no mistake, the United States takes care of its own. President Milosevic should make no mistake, we will hold him and his government responsible for their safety and for their well being."

With Milosevic standing defiant in the face of more than a week of air strikes, NATO had to fend off criticism that the air campaign was not working. NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana said that the operation would succeed but would require "stamina and determination."

A senior NATO diplomat, who would not be named, sought Thursday to cool growing criticism, the alliance might have to resort to using ground troops in Kosovo. The diplomat said NATO would probably need over 200,000 troops to invade Yugoslavia but it did not plan to do so. He said that the allies were determined to bring Milosevic to his knees through bombing, but he declined to predict "when the breaking point will come."

NATO's supreme military commander, General Wesley Clark, said KLA guerrillas were still putting up resistance on the ground, but Serb heavy weapons were taking their toll. Unarmed refugees in the Pagarusa valley in southern Kosovo were being attacked by tanks and artillery. Clark  said that Serb demolition squads were blowing up houses to simulate the effect of NATO bombs.

Yugoslavia lost a major bridge over the Danube River at Novi Sad, its second-largest city, to NATO bombs, blocking international shipping on Europe's longest waterway to and from the Black Sea. Vienna-Belgrade train travel was suspended.

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