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More than 2,000 killed as Russia attacks Georgia

Georgia called for a ceasefire yesterday after Russian bombers widened an offensive to force back Georgian troops seeking control over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

The Russian ambassador to NATO said last night the death toll in the two-day conflict had hit 2,000 and was rising, while Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned of a humanitarian catastrophe that Moscow was determined to halt by force.

US President George W. Bush said Russian attacks on Georgia outside South Ossetia marked a “dangerous escalation” of the crisis and urged Moscow to halt the bombing immediately.

Russia said it had seized the rebel capital, Tskhinvali, but Georgia denied the claim on the second day of fighting that threatens oil and gas pipelines seen as crucial in the West.

Russia said two of its warplanes had been shot down and 12 of its soldiers had been killed.

Georgia’s National Security Council (NSC) said it had shot down 10 Russian aircraft and destroyed as many as 30 Russian tanks.

“We have managed to down 10 Russian jets,” NSC Secretary Alexander Lomaia told reporters in Brussels by telephone, adding that “one of the pilots has been captured and is being treated in a military hospital.”

“We have destroyed up to 30 Russian tanks,” he said, adding that Georgia’s armed forces had, as of yesterday morning, lost “as many as 40 military servicemen” with more than 100 wounded.

“I call for an immediate ceasefire,” Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in Tbilisi. “Russia has launched a full-scale military invasion of Georgia.”

Russia’s military response to the crisis dramatically intensified a long-running standoff between Russia and the pro-Western Georgian leadership that has sparked alarm in the West and led to angry exchanges at the UN reminiscent of the Cold War.

Abkhazia, another pro-Russian enclave in Georgia, said its forces had begun an operation to drive out Georgian forces. One report from a pro-Georgian spokesman said Russian planes had carried out bombing raids, but the Abkhaz separatists said it was their aircraft that were involved.

Bush, Saakashvili’s main ally in the West, said Georgia’s territorial integrity must be respected.

Georgia’s parliament approved a state of war across the country for the next 15 days, while Russia accused the West of contributing to the violence by supplying Georgia with arms.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic whose pro-Western government now wants membership in NATO and the EU, had encouraged Georgia to carry out “ethnic cleansing” in South Ossetia, the Russian foreign ministry said.

“Tactical groups have fully liberated Tskhinvali from the Georgian military,” Itar-Tass news agency quoted Russian Ground Forces commander Vladimir Boldyrev as saying. Georgia said it still held the city.

“Tskhinvali is now under the complete control of our troops,” Khakha Lomaia, the secretary of the Georgian National Security Council said in Tbilisi.

A Russian journalist said the South Ossetian capital had been badly damaged. “The town is destroyed. There are many casualties, many wounded,” Zaid Tsarnayev said from Tskhinvali.

“I was in the hospital yesterday where I saw many civilian wounded. The hospital was later destroyed by a Georgian jet. I don’t know whether the wounded were still there,” Tsarnayev said.

Russian jets carried out up to five raids on mostly military targets around the Georgian town of Gori, close to the conflict zone in South Ossetia. At least one bomb hit an apartment block, killing five people.

“Our peacekeepeers and reinforcement units are currently running an operation to force the Georgian side to [agree to] peace,” Russian agencies quoted Medvedev as saying.

Russian troops poured into South Ossetia on Friday, after Georgia launched a major offensive aimed at restoring control over the province.

Russia is the main backer of South Ossetian separatists and the majority of the population, who are ethnically distinct from Georgians, have been given Russian passports.

The Russian military said reinforcements were on their way, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was not seeking all-out war with Georgia.
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