After a false hope of yesterday's ceasefire, the war in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia has flared up, with Georgia bombarding South Ossetia's capital Tskhinvali and a column of Russian armor moving into South Ossetia.
According to civilian refugees from Tskhinvali, "the town is destroyed, with piles of corpses everywhere."
Some other cheerful news...
«Еще и больницу городскую взорвали, но говорят, что тяжелых пострадавших, рожениц и новорожденных перевели в подвал, возможно, они еще живы. Все оставшиеся в городе также прячутся в подвалах, но они же не взяли с собой еду, а выйти из убежища равнозначно тому, чтобы попрощаться с жизнью.» -gazeta.ru quoting one of the refugees.
"The town hospital is blown up, but they say that the critical patients, and mothers with newborns were moved to the basement, so they possibly survive. All the survivors in the town are also hiding in cellars, but they have no food, and going up means waving your life goodbye."
According to Interfax (Russian news agency), South Ossetian and Russian troops are regaining control of what's left of the town. Mind you, it looks to me like much of the official claims on military successes both from the Georgian and from the South Ossetian sides are just a load of crap (four Russian planes claimed shot down by the Georgian side, four Georgian tanks the Ossetians claim to have destroyed, etc.). Georgian president Saakashvili's claims of Russian bombing of several Georgian towns and villages are also likely a bunch of hooey at this stage.
What is definitely real though is the destruction of Tskhinvali's infrastructure (including the hospital the Georgian troops blew up), the refugees (picture on the left shows arrival of refugees from South Ossetia into North Ossetia on the other side of the Russian border - ITAR-TASS photo), the looting, and the general misery.
In the meantime... in a typically tonedeaf and geographically clueless response, Grandpa McLame has already called on Russia to withdraw "from Georgia."
Also read michiganliberal's diary here for more background on the conflict.
UPDATES.
- President of Georgia Saakashvili announced that Georgian troops will be withdrawn... out of Iraq (source: www.civil.ge).
- President of Russia Medvedev just spoke at the United Nations, saying that... "We will not let the deaths of our compatriots go unpunished." Note that most of the residents of South Ossetia hold Russian citizenship.
- OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) is technically in charge of the peacekeeping forces in South Ossetia, including the Ossetian and Russian forces. OSCE chairman Stubb just trashed Georgia (very politely) for shelling the OSCE headquarters and called upon all sides in the conflict to take a chill pill.
- Oh great. The first casualty counts are in, according to the Russian radio station Echo Moskvy (one of the last bastions of the independent Russian journalism) - at least 1,400 dead in Tskhinvali, meanwhile both official Georgian and Russian news claim their respective sides have control of the town.
- Again listening to Echo Moskvy. It's not clear WHO controls Tskhinvali, but there is no shooting at the moment (22:15 local time), and civilian survivors are getting out of the basements and cellars and trying to leave.
I'm giving up on updates - this is just too bloody senseless and depressing.