More than a thousand people are reported dead in fighting
involving Georgian and Russian forces in Georgia's breakaway region of South
Ossetia.
Both sides accuse the other of being the aggressor.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Friday he ordered an all-out
offensive to regain control of South Ossetia, after Russian tanks entered the
region. He accused Russia of waging war on Georgia.
Russia said its troops were responding to a Georgian assault to retake South
Ossetia.
A Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman, Shota Utiashvili said Russian
shelling of the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, forced Georgian troops from
part of the city, which the Georgians captured earlier in the day.
Russian authorities reported at least 12 Russian peacekeepers killed and at
least 50 wounded in the fighting. South Ossetian officials said the number of
civilian dead exceeded one thousand.