The war between Russian and Georgia
expanded on Saturday morning, with fighting spilling outside the Caucasus province of Ossetia, and both sides moving reinforcements to the region, reported dpa, refer to Interfax news agency.
The fiercest fighting was in the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali, where
street fighting and artillery exchanges continued sporadically throughout the
night.
Intense howitzer and tank fire in the vicinity of the town was audible by
mid-morning on Saturday.
Georgian television showed images of hundreds of rockets and heavy artillery
shells crashing into Tskhinvali. Shelling reduced entire city blocks to rubble,
according to eyewitnesses.
Counts of civilian casualties varied widely, with Georgia estimating between
one and two dozen killed, and some 100 injured as of Friday evening.
Eduard Kokoity, South Ossetia's leader, claimed more than 1,600 civilians had
died and implied thousands more had been injured.
Anatoly Nagovytsyn, a Russian army spokesman, blamed the high casualties on
Georgian massive use of rocket salvoes, by their nature an imprecise weapon.
Eyewitnesses said many Tskhinvali victims lost their lives when caught out in
the open by artillery fire as they attempted to flee. Georgian television
showed images of corpses sprawled along sidewalks and streets, in some cases
still holding luggage.
Russian army losses, primarily to a peacekeeping unit stationed in South Ossetia when intense fighting broke out, were admitted at 12 soldiers killed and 22
seriously injured, the Kremlin said.
Georgian military losses as of Saturday were reported at 50 dead and "in
excess of 450" injured, the Interfax news agency reported citing an
unnamed Georgian army officer.
Georgian television showed images of a continuous trickle of Georgian
casualties moving to rear areas aboard jeeps and pick up trucks.
Control of Tskhinvali appeared disputed on Saturday, with Georgian officials
asserting total control of the city, and Kremlin sources saying Russian
peacekeeper infantry - a unit of 2,500 men strong before the fighting began -
continued to hold out in Tskhinvali's south.
Refugees were leaving the region and heading north towards the Russian border
throughout the night, at times under Georgian artillery fire.
Georgian forces late on Friday ceased fire for some three hours to allow
civilians to leave, but according to Russian observers Georgian shelling
interdicted roads leading north throughout the night.
Russian airstrikes using Su-25 and Tu-22 aircraft, among other types, hit in
and outside South Ossetia on Friday, continuing into Saturday.
Targets bombed or rocketed by Russian aircraft in an estimated 22 sorties
included, reportedly, oil pipelines, airfields, and military bases in the towns
Vaziani, Gori, and Senaki, according to a Georgia government statement.
Russian bombers also hit Georgia's only oil terminal in the Black Sea port
Poti, destroying "almost everything" and leaving the installation in
flames, the Interfax news agency reported.
Georgia's national television channel said that 20 civilians in Gori were
killed by the Russian strikes.
Georgia by Saturday had claimed it had shot down six Russian airplanes.
Georgian air force officers said they had captured one Russian pilot, and
recovered the corpse of a crew member of a second Russian aircraft.
Russia army spokesmen confirmed two Russian aircraft had been shot down, and
said Russian forces had destroyed two Georgian aircraft. There was no
independent confirmation of the Russian claim.
Russia and Georgia announced halts to civilian air traffic effective Saturday.
Spokesmen for Russia's 58th Army said regular army forces, including two tank
columns, had been arriving in the region throughout the night, at times under
Georgian artillery fire, and that a counteroffensive to eject Georgian troops
from the city was being planned.
"We are preparing to re-establish the peace," said Igor Konashenkov,
a Russian army spokesman, according to Interfax.
Any Georgian counter-fire would, according to Konashenkov "be violently
suppressed ... by Russian artillery and aircraft." He added that Spetsnaz,
an elite commando unit, was en route to Ossetia and would arrive "within
the next few hours."
The elite Russian infantrymen reportedly had entered combat by midday Saturday,
a 58th Army spokesman said.
Georgia mobilized its reserves on Thursday, and declared martial law on
Saturday. Discussions were in progress with the US to bring back to Georgia an elite 1,000-man Georgian infantry battalion currently stationed in Iraq.
International efforts to bring a ceasefire appeared stymied, with the UN's
Security Council at loggerheads with the US and Russia taking effectively
opposite views over the Ossetia conflict.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday said Russia should reverse its reinforcements to Ossetia, and withdraw all of its combat forces from
Georgian territory.
Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin rejected the idea, saying Russian forces
were fulfilling a "perfectly legal" peacekeeping mission, and that
the Kremlin's goal was to restore peace to the region.
It was the second failed Security Council session on Ossetia after a first
attempt Friday. The Security Council reportedly was planning another emergency meeting
on Saturday.