http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_Ossetia_War


"Beginning late on August 1, 2008, intense fighting began between Georgian troops and the forces of South Ossetia. Georgia claimed that South Ossetian separatists had shelled Georgian villages in violation of a ceasefire. South Ossetia denies provoking the conflict.[35][16] On August 3, South Ossetians started to evacuate into Russia and on August 5, Russian ambassador Yuri Popov warned that Russia will intervene if conflict erupts. [36][37] On August 7, 2008, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili ordered Georgian troops to ceasefire. [38][39] Despite an offer of ceasefire the fighting intensified.[40][41] Hours after the declaration of ceasefire, in a televised address, Mikhail Saakashvili has vowed to restore Tbilisi's control over what he called the "criminal regime" in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and reinforce order.[41]

During the night and early morning Georgia launched a military offensive to surround and capture the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali.[42] The heavy shelling laid the city in ruins, causing a humanitarian crisis which, according to Russian government sources, amounted to genocide. The news of the shelling was extensively covered by Russian media and served as a pretext for the following military reaction and Russia threatened to respond to defend South Ossetians against "a genocide by Georgian forces."[43][16] The extent of civilian casualties was later disputed in a number of sources.

On August 8, 2008, Russia sent troops across the Georgian border to South Ossetia to stop Georgia's offensive against its breakaway territory. In five days of fighting the Russian forces recaptured the regional capital Tskhinvali, pushed back Georgian troops, and largely destroyed Georgia's military infrastructure in airstrikes deep inside its territory.[44] Georgia retreated from its offensive in South Ossetia to defend itself[45]

Action on the Black Sea saw one Georgian missile boat sunk by the Russian Navy on August 9. The Russians claim that the Georgian ships had attacked them earlier. After the skirmish, the remaining Georgian ships fled in defeat.


Destroyed building in South Ossetia.Also on August 9, an offensive was begun by the military of the Republic of Abkhazia in the Kodori Valley, the only region of Abkhazia that was, before the war began, still in effective control of Georgian loyalists. By August 13 all of the remaining Georgian forces, including 3,000 ethnic Georgian civilians, in Kodori Valley had retreated to Georgia proper. [46