Yugoslavia Sends Mixed Message

In an apparent effort to avert NATO air strikes, Serb forces withdrew more police and army units and heavy weapons from Kosovo on Sunday. CBS News Correspondent Allen Pizzey reports.

However, their retreat may simply signal that their job has been completed, as ethnic Albanian refugees returning to the village of Sebovac found their homes in ruins. Houses were smashed and burned during a Serb offensive against separatist guerrillas ten days ago.

The Serbs slaughtered animals the villagers had to leave behind when they fled. Amid the ruins, villagers also found a decapitated body. The man was apparently killed when the village was shelled.

NATO is threatening attacks to end seven months of bloodshed in Kosovo, despite signs Serbs may be ready for a compromise on how the rebellious Serb province should be governed.

Serbian police and the Yugoslav army have routed separatist Kosovo Albanian rebels during the seven-month crackdown. The conflict has killed hundreds -- most of them Albanian civilians -- and driven hundreds of thousands of villagers from their homes.

The United States warned Milosevic on Friday that he faced NATO military intervention within two weeks unless he called a ceasefire in Kosovo and started peace talks with the Serbian province's separatist ethnic Albanian majority.

The Serbs claim they are no longer on the offensive -- merely patrolling to keep the peace. That may not be enough to satisfy the West, but the Serbs are not without allies.

Meeting with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosovic, the Russian Defense and foreign ministers said NATO action would be a "flagrant violation of the U.N. charter."

Earlier, Yugoslavia's Supreme Defense Council - headed by Milosevic -- said the country would defend itself by "all means available" against NATO air attacks, Tanjug news agency reported.

At the same time, Pope John Paul II called on all sides to take a step back from the brink. Addressing a huge open air mass in neighboring Croatia, the pope expressed what he called "anxious concern" about the situation in Kosovo.

"Understanding...mutual respect and reconciliation should take the place of violence and destruction," he said.

Welcome though the words may be, the estimated 250,000 ethnic Albanians who are refugees in their own land may yet be hoping for NATO intervention, which is still possible.

In another sign that the Serbs are taking the threat of air strikes seriously the Yugoslav parliament has scheduled a debate on Kosovo for Monday. They have also invited U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to come and see the situation here for himself an offer that almost certainly will be refused.

Preparing for an attack, Yugoslav generals put the nation's air defense on high alert, even as Serbs indicated they were ready for compromise by installing n interim government Saturday in Kosovo.

A Western diplomat also said that up to 120 Yugoslav armored vehicles, including tanks, have been pulled out of Kosovo so far. But the West apparently remained unmoved.

London's Sunday Times reported that Britain was preparing ground troops and armored units for Kosovo. The Defense Ministry refused to confirm or deny the report but repeated Britain was ready to participate in a NATO attack.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's Cabinet meets Monday to formally approve the use of force unless Milosevic backs down.

Ethnic Albanian political leaders rejected the new interim government, drawn up without their participation. The council is composed of seven Serbs, five ethnic Albanians and the rest Turks and Muslims. It was part of a last-ditch effort to show that Serbs intend to end the conflict.