Latest developments:

• Cohen warns Milosevic
• Milosevic to meet Yeltsin
• Moscow recalls NATO representative
• Related stories and sites

AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy (CNN) -- Dozens of NATO warplanes took to the skies over the southern Balkans on Monday to demonstrate the Western military alliance's determination to stop ethnic bloodshed in Kosovo.

"This is an exercise intended to demonstrate the alliance's commitment to peace and stability in the region and the alliance's ability to project power into the region," said Lt. Gen. Michael Short, commander of NATO air forces in the alliance's southern Europe division.

CNN coverage of the exercises, including an interview with personnel on the USS Wasp

The air maneuver, codenamed Determined Falcon, came against the background of months of escalating fighting in the Serbian province of Kosovo, where security forces have staged several operations against members and alleged supporters of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army.

The West has put substantial pressure, including sanctions, on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to end the crackdown in Kosovo.

The fighting is also to be addressed in Moscow on Tuesday, when Milosevic is due to meet Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who has opposed a NATO show of force against Yugoslavia.

Cohen warns Milosevic

Cohen said Tuesday that NATO's exercise was to "demonstrate ... that NATO is united in its commitment to seek a cease-fire and a cessation of hostilities (in Kosovo) and demonstrate its capacity to rapidly mobilize some very significant lethal capability."

Col. Emerson Gardner, U.S. Marines, explains the objective of the NATO mission
"We are ready to respond to any operational tasking which may come our way ..."
	276K/26 sec. AIFF or WAV sound
Capt. Leon Mahoney, U.S. Navy
	341K/31 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

As Determined Falcon got under way in the dawn hours, two F-16 fighters from the Portuguese air force roared off from Aviano air base in northern Italy.

They emerged from a shimmering heat haze and shot into the blue sky with a deafening screech, followed in rapid order by a dozen F-16s from the U.S. 31st Fighter Wing and eight Spanish F-18s. About five hours later, the mission was complete.

British and French Jaguar ground-attack planes, German Tornadoes and F-16s from Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Greece, Turkey and Denmark joined the airborne phalanx.

At sea, fighter aircraft took off from the USS Wasp, on station in the Adriatic for search and rescue in case of any accidents.

Albania and Macedonia, Kosovo's concerned neighbors to the south and east, had given their consent for the maneuvers and NATO aircrew had the right to defend themselves if threatened, Short said.

Short said he expected NATO's display of force to be tracked by Yugoslavia's early warning radar but stressed there would be no provocation by the allied planes.

Milosevic to meet Yeltsin

Although Moscow has supported Western calls for both Milosevic and the KLA to stop violence and hold serious negotiations on the future of Kosovo, Russia has been a traditional supporter of Serbians in the Balkan region.

Yeltsin

On Tuesday, Yeltsin was to address the Kosovo fighting, which has killed at least 300 people since the Serbian crackdown began in February.

Unconfirmed reports from Moscow on Monday said that Yeltsin would demand that Milosevic immediately make some political concessions on Kosovo, which is an area that many Serbs consider the cradle of Serbian culture.

The West has made clear that it would like to see an enhanced status for Kosovo, while underlining that Yugoslavia's sovereignty must be maintained.

Moscow recalls NATO representative

Coinciding with the NATO maneuver, the Russian defense ministry confirmed that it had recalled its military representative to NATO.

The ministry said Lt. Gen. Viktor Zavarzin was called home because "there are questions we have to work on."

The ministry would not say whether the move was in protest of the NATO exercises.

A NATO spokesperson in Brussels told Reuters news agency that Zavarzin's return to Moscow was a routine matter.

Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty, Correspondent Gayle Young, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.