Russian jets attack Georgian town, brings country to its knees
source:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7550804.stm#map
Russian air strikes have hit Gori, a Georgian town near the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Blocks of flats were among the buildings hit.
Aftermath of the air strikes in Gori
Russian jets have carried out strikes on military targets in the central Georgian town of Gori, close to the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Georgian officials say 60 people were killed when bombs hit two blocks of flats in the town.
The Georgian parliament has meanwhile approved a presidential decree declaring a state of war for 15 days.
Earlier, Russia said it had "liberated" South Ossetia's capital Tskhinvali, but Georgia said it remained in control.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said his country was seeking "to force the Georgian side to peace".
The comments came after Russian commanders announced they were sending more troops into South Ossetia. They also confirmed two Russian jets had been shot down over Georgia, although they did not say where.
After days of exchanging heavy fire with the Russian-backed separatists, Georgian forces launched a surprise attack on Thursday night to regain control of the region, which has had de facto independence since the end of a civil war in 1992.
In response, Moscow sent armoured units across the border. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said about 1,500 people had been killed so far, including 15 of his country's soldiers.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili denounced the claims of a high civilian death toll as an "egregious lie". [You would say that you phucking monster.]
Mr Saakashvili also said he had decided to declare a "state of war" because Georgia was "under a state of total military aggression by the Russian navy, air force, large-scale ground operations".
US President George W Bush said the Russian attacks outside South Ossetia marked a "dangerous escalation in the crisis" and said Georgia's territorial integrity had to be respected.
"The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia," he said while attending the Olympics.
"The violence is endangering regional peace. Civilian lives have been lost and others are endangered."
'Military invasion'
Fighting raged around Tskhinvali overnight and into Saturday morning, although not at the same intensity as on Friday, Russian media reported.
Later, the Russian Army's Ground Forces commander, Gen Vladimir Boldyrev, told Russian media that his troops had retaken the city from Georgian forces.
"Tactical groups have fully liberated Tskhinvali from the Georgian military and have started pushing Georgian units beyond the zone of peacekeepers' responsibility," he said, after paratroopers were airlifted into the city. [Those "peacekeeping troops" turned out to be a great Russian Trojan Horse!]
Russia said Tskhinvali had been "liberated" from the Georgian military
But the secretary of the Georgian National Security Council, Khakha Lomaia, insisted that the city remained "under the complete control of our troops".
Tskhinvali, where inhabitants are said to be sheltering in basements without electricity or phone lines, is reported to be devastated. The International Red Cross (ICRC) said it had received reports that hospitals in the city were "overflowing" with casualties.
Georgia said Russia had also launched air strikes on targets inside its territory, in what it described as "a full-scale military invasion".
Later, Russian aircraft bombed mostly military targets in Gori, where Georgian troops have been massing at three bases to support their forces engaged in South Ossetia.
The BBC's Richard Galpin in Gori heard loud explosions and saw large plumes of smoke rising into the sky; soldiers and civilians were seen running through the streets.
One missile hit a military base, from which most of the soldiers appeared to have managed to escape beforehand, he says.
The Georgian military said residential buildings had also been struck, leaving a number of civilians dead. Our correspondent says injured civilians were being pulled from the buildings, which were on fire.
The Georgian foreign ministry in Tbilisi said the Black Sea port of Poti, the site of a major oil shipment facility, had also been "devastated" by a Russian air raid.
Georgian television is meanwhile reporting that Russian troops have started bombarding a Georgian-controlled section of the strategic Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia - another region that has broken away from Tbilisi's control.
"According to our information, an aerial attack was carried out in Upper Abkhazia. Several shells were dropped in the vicinity of Gentvisi and in the area of the new road," said the head of the Abkhaz government in exile, Malkhaz Akishbaia.
Russia has a peacekeeping force in Abkhazia under an agreement made following civil wars in the 1990s, when the region declared independence and formed links with Moscow.
Territorial claims
President Medvedev said Russia's military aim was to force the Georgians to stop fighting. [I][What does Saakash-villain think? That's he's going to regain control of SO? If he truly loves his nation he should save Georgian lives and surrenderI] He was speaking at a meeting on Saturday morning in the Kremlin with Defence Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov and the head of the Russian Armed Forces.
"Our peacekeepers and the units attached to them are currently carrying out an operation to force the Georgian side to [agree to] peace," he said.
"They also bear the responsibility for protecting the population."
Speaking to the BBC, the Russian foreign minister insisted his country did not want all-out war with Georgia, but was prepared to do whatever was necessary to restore the situation in South Ossetia and to defend its civilian population, most of whom have been given Russian citizenship.
"Mr Saakashvili keeps saying that we want to chop off a part of Georgian territory," Mr Lavrov said.
"He's also saying that this is not just about Georgia, this is about the future of Europe because he says Russia is also making territorial claims to other claims, including the Baltic States, which is rubbish," he added.
Mr Lavrov said Georgia had violated a peace deal under which Georgia had agreed not to use force in the South Ossetia dispute.
"We cannot allow the peace agreement just to be violated this way," he added. "Whatever it takes to bring the situation to status quo ante will be done."
The BBC's James Rodgers in Moscow says diplomatic initiatives to end the fighting have so far proved fruitless.
On Friday evening, the UN Security Council failed to agree on the wording of a statement calling for a ceasefire.
The UK, the US and France, are pinpointing what they say is Russia's aggression as the key factor in the slide towards war, while Moscow insists Georgia is to blame.
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"Our peacekeepers and the units attached to them are currently carrying out an operation to force the Georgian side to [agree to] peace."
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
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SOUTH OSSETIA TIMELINE
1991-92 S Ossetia fights war to break away from newly independent Georgia; Russia enforces truce
2004 Mikhail Saakashvili elected Georgian president, promising to recover lost territories
2006 S Ossetians vote for independence in unofficial referendum
April 2008 Russia steps up ties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia
July 2008 Russia admits flying jets over S Ossetia; Russia and Georgia accuse each other of military build-up
7 August 2008 After escalating Georgian-Ossetian clashes, sides agree to ceasefire
8 August 2008 Heavy fighting erupts overnight, Georgian forces close in on Tskhinvali
9 August 2008 Russian jets bomb central Georgian town of Gori, Russia says its troops have "liberated" Tskhinvali
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In other developments:
Georgia's president said his country was withdrawing its contingent of 2,000 troops from Iraq to help deal with the crisis
The European security organisation, the OSCE, warned that the fighting in South Ossetia could escalate into a full-scale war
The US and the EU were reported to be sending a joint delegation to the region to seek a ceasefire and Nato said it was seriously concerned.
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