Russia forces widened their assault on Georgia on Monday, with a new offensive kicking off near the western Black Sea coast, as US President George W Bush condemned the Kremlin's actions as a "disproportionate response" to the fighting in South Ossetia, dpa reported.
Russian armoured columns following airstrikes rolled into Georgia's Zugdidi district on Monday afternoon, disarming police in the village Khurcha.
The advance marked yet another escalation in the widening conflict, marking the first move by Russian ground forces into territory controlled by Georgia at the outset of the five-day-old war.
The tank offensive also was the first commitment to battle of a Russian combined arms unit landed over the weekend in Abkhazia, a second Georgian separatist province to South Ossetia.
Russia had landed by Monday 9,000 naval infantry and 350 tanks and armoured personnel carriers in Abkhazia. A UN military monitoring mission withdrew its observers from the area over the weekend.
Infantry combat and Russian airstrikes continued in the remote Kodori gorge region, a district north of Zugdidi and claimed by both Georgia and Abkhazia.
Russia's air force intensified bombing over the day, with Georgian defence officials reporting more than 50 Russian bombers operating in Georgian airspace.
Among targets attacked by Russian planes were an air traffic control terminal near Tbilisi, and other military bases including its oil-shipping hub port of Poti on the Black Sea, hit now for the third time.
The air traffic radar on a mountain overlooking Tbilisi airport was visibly burning once the sun rose Monday.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said late Sunday there was "massive" bombardment of Georgia's city Gori in the interior.
Military action continued at locations across Georgia throughout Monday, despite a "unilateral ceasefire" declared by Saakashvili shortly after midnight.
Monday saw the war's first naval action, with Russian warships firing on four Georgian missile boats attempting to exit Poti, sinking one and forcing the other three to turn back.
The engagement carried the potential of Russian conflict with Ukraine, as Ukraine's Foreign Ministry over the weekend said if any Russian warships based in Ukraine were to blockade Georgia, Kiev would not allow the Russians back into port.
Russian troops in the South Ossetia sector had full control of the capital Tskhinvali on Monday, after three days of violent fighting. Russian army officials said they had "no intention" of moving Russian troops from South Ossetia.
General Anatoly Nogovytsyn, Russia's 58th Army commander, said his troops were still involved in clashes overnight Sunday to Monday and were continuing with "mopping up" operations in the region.
Elements of Russia's 19th Motor Rifle Division arrived as reinforcements to the some 6,000 paratroopers and peacekeeper infantry already fighting in South Ossetia. The new Russian forces included rocket artillery, self-propelled howitzers, armoured personnel carriers, and tanks, tipping the balance of force in the Ossetia region further to the Russian side.
Georgian officials late on Monday were adamantly insisting Russian forces had violated the commitment to stay within the limits of South Ossetia, and claimed Russian tanks had captured the town of Gori, on the road to Tbilisi.
Independent confirmation of the Georgian claims was not available, but eyewitnesses said Georgian forces were quitting the town.
The Kremlin has named the "unconditional withdrawal" of Georgian fighters from South Ossetia, and a Georgian commitment to the non use of force in the region as conditions for an end to the Russian offensive. Asked by reporters why Russia had not reacted to Georgia's call for a ceasefire, the Russian general responded "we haven't received any documents on that yet."
Saakashvili in a nationwide television address struck a hardline, saying he "wanted peace but (I am) willing to fight to the last drop of blood."
Georgian artillery re-opened fire on Tskhinvali shortly after Russian forces moved into Abkhazia, ending a Georgian ceasefire in the South Ossetia sector, according to an unconfirmed Georgian army report.
Nogovytsyn said three of his men were killed and 18 wounded Monday by Georgian artillery fire overnight, and reported Georgia's re-opening of fire inflicted additional casualties.
Total Russian military losses since the war's outbreak Thursday was given by a Russian 58th Army spokesman at 16 dead and some 100 injured.
Georgia had downed four Russian aircraft since the war's outbreak, he said. One Russian pilot was captured after ejecting from his jet. Georgia on Monday was claiming a dozen Russian aircraft destroyed.
Georgian military losses as of Monday were some 90 dead and 500 injured, according to the most recent Georgian army estimates. A Russian missile shot down a Georgian Su-25 airplane during Monday afternoon.
Confirmed civilian dead are in excess of 200, and may exceed 1,600, according to unconfirmed reports.
US President George W Bush said Monday he had called the ongoing violence "unacceptable" in talks with Russian leaders on Sunday.
"I said this violence is unacceptable - I not only said it to (Russian Prime Minister) Vladimir Putin, I've said it to the president of the country, Dmitry Medvedev," Bush told US broadcaster NBC when asked about the conflict in Beijing.
A US C5 cargo jet arrived in Tbilisi on Monday afternoon carrying elements of the 13th Infantry battalion from Iraq, accounted Georgia's most effective unit due to its desert combat experience and US training.
Elements of the force were digging in in Georgia's western region opposite Russian forces advancing east near the towns Senaki and Zugdidi.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was in Tbilisi Monday to break the ground for negotiations. Kouchner's main goal was to provide for a ceasefire to allow the wounded to be treated.
The French diplomat also handed Georgian counterparts a three- phase plan to end the fighting. Saakashvili signed the agreement and Kouchner's team was intending to fly the document to Moscow, according to Georgian news reports.
Council of Europe representative Terry Davis, Swedish Foreign Minister Karl Bildt, and US Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryce arrived in Tbilisi later in the day.
About 25,000 refugees from South Ossetia's population of 70,000 have fled north and are living in camps and hostels in Valdikavkaz. Some 2,000 refugees, among them foreigners, fled Georgia into Armenia, the Interfax news agency reported.
Russian officials in Vladikavkaz said they had many calls for assistance from wounded people 30 kilometres away in Dzhava, but shelling along the only pass out of South Ossetia was too heavy to get through.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev described Georgia's military operations in South Ossetia as "genocide," Interfax quoted.
"They were on a mass scale and were directed against individuals," they reported him as saying.
Official Georgian statements on the conflict were similarly hyped, blaming Russia for conducting all-out war on Georgia and intending to destroy Georgia as an independent state.
North Ossetia, across the mountains on the Russian side of the border, is ethnically linked to South Ossetia, where Moscow has granted most residents Russian citizenship.
The Saakashvili regime has repeatedly accused the Kremlin of using the passport issue as a vehicle for creeping annexation of South Ossetia, considered by Tbilisi a natural part of Georgia.