Battle of Tskhinvali

Battle of Tskhinvali
Part of 2008 South Ossetia War
Movements of opposing forces on 8 August around Tskhinvali. Blue arrows show Georgian attacks, red show Russian
Date August 8 - August 10, 2008 Location Tskhinval, South Ossetia Result Russian victory, Georgian withdrawal
Belligerents
South Ossetia Russian Federation	Georgia
Commanders and leaders
Eduard Kokoity Dmitry Medvedev Anatoliy Serdyukov Marat Kulakhmetov	Mikheil Saakashvili Davit Kezerashvili Zaza Gogava
Strength
1 battalion, possibly 3,000 total 2 battalions, 2,500 other troops Reportedly hundreds of volunteers	3 infantry battalions, 2 tank battalions, 2 self-propelled artillery battalions, special forces with separate sniper brigades, Georgian Airforce
Casualties and losses
18 soldiers killed and 150 wounded (Russia) Unknown (Ossetia)	180 soldiers killed (Georgian claim) 700 soldiers killed and 2,000 wounded (S.Ossetian claim)
2,000 Ossetian and 15 Georgian civilians killed

The Battle of Tskhinvali is a combat for the city of Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, that is being fought for over three days in August 2008, and is the main engagement in the 2008 South Ossetia War. Its timing may have been deliberately chosen to match the day of the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Disposition before the Battle

The cities of Tskhinvali and Gori are located in the valley of the Greater Liakhvi River within about 20 miles from each other. The Georgian military is based at Gori, while Tskhinvali was the primary objective of the Georgian forces.

It has been suggested that the ultimate goal of the Georgian forces was to control the Roki Tunnel, which is the only important land route from North Ossetia to South Ossetia.

• 
  A map of the Caucasus showing the forces disposition before the battle of Tskhinvali.

Some reports indicate that the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili declared a ceasefire during the Olympics.

Battle's Timeline

The Georgian Army entered a province of South Ossetia during the early hours of August 8, 2008 after a prolonged artillery onslaught on the city of Tskhinvali using (howitzers), GRAD multiple-launch rocket systems, and large-caliber mortars. Then, tanks and APCs further supported by artillery fire launched an attack towards the city. The Georgian forces kept advancing despite strong oppostion from the South Ossetian defenders, and by the end of the day established control over a significant part of the city territory. During the afternoon of August 8 2008, the Russian forces crossed the border into South Ossetia from North Ossetia and reached Tskhinvali several hours later. By the end of the day of August 9th, the joined Russian and South Ossetian forces regained control over Tskhinvali.

The Campain of the Georgian Army

August 1 through 7, 2008

• Georgia confronts South Ossetian forces in limited military engagements in the villages of ( Avnevi; Tamarasheni; Prisi; Kurta) and villages controlled by South Ossetia (Khetagurovo ) and the outskirts of Tskhinvali.
• Six Ossetians reported dead when the capital of South Ossetia came under fire . The evacuation of children began.
• On the late evening of Aug 2 and the night of Aug 2-3, the Georgian forces approached Tskhinvali, bringing infantry and armored vehicles up to the conflict area.

August 7, 2008 (herein, the local time is used: the UTC daylight saving time + 5 hr, or the regular UTC + 4 hr)

• Secretary of the Georgian National Security Council Kakha Lomaia to Reuters: "Separatists opened fire at the two Georgian villages of Prisi and Tamarasheni, and we had to return fire"
• "Ludmila Kelekhsayeva, the Chief Doctor Deputy of the Republican Hospital in Tskhinvali, said that the first wounded began to arrive late at night (Aug 6?) from villages Avnevi, Ubiat, Khetagurovo, Satikar... Two civilians dead in the village of Khetagurovo because of massive shelling: one man hit by an explosion, and one woman burned in her house", the OSInform News Agency reported.
• 23:30 The Georgian troops began shelling Tskhinvali using heavy artillery, such as howitzers, GRAD rocket launchers, and large-caliber mortars; "The South Ossetian defense forces did not open fire at first, but as the enemy fire intensified, they started firing back at the aggressor. The Tskhinvali center is being shelled from the direction of Gori where 27 GRAD rocket launchers have been installed...The Commander of the Peacekeeping Forces Marat Kulakhmetov stated that the Georgian side has just informed him that they are starting the war", the OSInform News Agency reported.

August 8, 2008

• 00:00 (?) Calls for help and military support arrived over the phone from women in a bombing shelter in Tskhinvali to the OSInform News Agency, asking the government of Russia not leave them under the enemy fire
• 01:42 The Georgian military minister Mamuka Kurashvili stated that "an operation to finish off a criminal regime in order to restore the constitutional order in the region has just begun".
• 02:38 The Georgian troops use MLRS and heavy artillery against the city . Tskhinvali civilians attempt to hide in the basements. It is impossible to get the wounded people to the hospital because of heavy shelling.
• 03:08 Georgian authorities informed the Russian peacekeeping commander about the operation and asked them not to interfere.
• 04:02 The Russian media reported that Georgia had launched a tank attack on Tskhinvali, with at least 15 civilians killed by heavy shelling.
• 04:45 Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temuri Yakobashvili announced that Tskhinvali was nearly surrounded by the Georgian forces
• 05:00 (?) After hours of artillery bombardment Georgian tanks moved into the city and were heading toward the city center, where they were met with fierce resistance from South Ossetian forces. Georgian snipers were the most lethal on the battlefield killing anything that moved according to the civilians. The South Ossetian presidential palace in the city was burning as intense hand-to-hand fighting broke out across the town. Ordinary apartment blocks were pounded as the remains of Georgian tanks struck by rocket-propelled grenades stood burning in the middle of the streets. The Georgian army needed only a few hours to take the city.
• 10:23 The Georgian media informed that Tskhinvali was captured and Georgia now controlled two-thirds of South Ossetia's territory;
• 12:10 The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the Georgians had killed at least 10 Russian soldiers and wounded 30 in the first shelling of the peacekeepers base at the city ; later that number was revised to 13 killed and 70 wounded;
• 13:54 A joint statement by the President of North Ossetia-Alania Taymuraz Mamsurov and the South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity claimed that "according to the latest information available, the city continues to resist the incursion of the Georgian troops and has still not been captured". ;
• 14:27 Heavy street fighting was escalating in the city, and it was confirmed by a television footage that four Georgian tanks were on fire at the railroad station square with a few dead Georgian soldiers beside them on the ground ;
• 16:06 The Russian media reported that two armored tank battalions of the 58th Army are moving toward Tskhinvali as a support for Russian peacekeepers . That fact was later confirmed by CNN .
• 18:26 Alexander Barankevich, the Secretory of Security Counsel of South Ossetia, stated that the Georgian troops are leaving Tskhinvali, whereas a column of the Russian armored vehicles is just entering the city. As Reuters reported with reference to the President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili, there are now about 150 Russian tanks and armored vehicles on the South Ossetian territory. A Interfax correspondent in Tskhinvali said, "There's now a stagnation – you can't hear any shots. The whole city is on fire, every second house seems to be burning"
• 20:00 The legacy of the night attack was initially assessed as thousands of civilians killed according to the South Ossetian sources, and about 100 civilians killed according to the Georgian sources . Inal Pliyev, the Director of the Information Department of South Ossetia told an Interfax correspondent,"Probably thousands, because absolutely everything is destroyed. They used GRAD rockets on the living blocks, houses, a hospital. All office and plant buildings are on fire. The schools, the University, the Ministery of Culture, the Parlament building. The camp of peacekeepers is also mangled. Our defenders managed to hit three tanks that were in the city... Most of the wounded were injured by the air strikes"

After the Russian Army implication

The Russian Army units crossed the border into South Ossetia on August 8, encountering the Georgian forces near the capital of Tskhinvali. These forces were probably based on the 58th Army. Both sides (Russia and Georgia) used armoured vehicles and artillery. On August 9, Russian sources claimed that the Russian Army had regained control over the city, while Georgian sources denied this, insisting the fighting was still on. After the Russians drove the Georgians out of the outskirts of Tskhinvali, the Georgian units regrouped with armored reinforcements from Gori. On the later half of August 9, the regrouped Georgian forces launched a new offensive against South Ossetian and Russian defenders of Tskhinvali. Heavy fighting was said to be underway on the city outskirts, as at least three Georgian tanks were reported hit .

August 9, 2008

• 07:25 "The Georgian forces shelled Tskhinvali all night intermittently for about one hour or one-and-a-half each time, stopped at times by the backfire from the defense forces... About 70% of city buildings are now destroyed. The situation is very tough", said a spokeswoman of the South Ossetia government Irina Glagolyeva to the Russian Vesti 24 News Channel.
• 07:36 "South Ossetia still controls Tskhinvali... The artillery shelling was on and off at night, the civilians kept hiding in the basements. Many apartment blocks were on fire all night long, and the fires could not be put out because of lack of water supply. Still, the Georgian media go on claiming that the control over Tskhinvali belongs to Georgia. Last night, the broadcasting of all Russian TV channels over Georgia was discontinued", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 8:30 "Some explosions heard here and there. The bakery now works in the city. In the morning, people had a chance to come out and get some bread. The ex-neighbors regrouped, and now tend to hide in the same basements. No power in the city. The retreating Georgians took some city inhabitants hostage, whose number cannot be presently determined. The Tskhinvalians blocked and barricaded the basements doors as hard as they could, and prepared some axes to fight off any abusive action". Last night, the Georgian tanks kept firing at the few still standing apartment blocks in the city. Smashed Georgian tanks can be seen on the streets, you can also see a destroyed BMP on the southern outskirts with some dead bodies nearby", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 11:19 "Again, Tskhinvali is under heavy artillery fire coming from the direction of the Georgian villages", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 11:19 "The Georgian snipers keep firing at vehicles transporting the wounded to the hospitals of South Ossetia", said Irina Glagoleva, a spokeswoman for the South Ossetia government.
• 11:30 "The women and children in Tskhinvali suffer from thirst. The city has not had any access to water, gas, electricity for 3 days. The cell phones are losing power. The Georgian snipers shoot anyone who tries to get out into the street", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 14:22 "An intense, massive shelling of living blocks of the city by Georgian forces using mortars, artillery, BMPs, tanks, and the GRAD rocket launchers is on. The shells are coming in bursts, the intervals between the bursts are less than a second", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 15:20 "Tskhinvali is under control of the South Ossetian forces, but the extermination of the Georgian gun-layers who coordinate the fire on the city continues", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 15:38 "Some shelling to the houses near the border. Fire and smoke everywhere... The exact number of victims is unknown to me...", reported Inal Pliyev, the director of the Information Department of South Ossetia , from Tskhinvali.
• 15:40 The evacuation of 100 wounded persons is under way, as reported by the State Information Committee of South Ossetia to a correspondent of the REGNUM News Agency
• 19:00 After regrouping in the suburbs of Tskhinvali, the Georgian forces launched a new bombardment of the city using heavy artillery (howitzers), GRAD rocket launchers, and large-caliber mortars. Georgian troopers supported by tanks entered the southern outskirts of the city
• 20:00 Yuri Morozov, the head of the government of South Ossetia, reported to the Russian Vesti News Channel , "About 5000 civilians remain in Tskhinvali, whose evacuation is not possible at the moment. The Georgian side continues to bombard the territory with all weapons available including the GRAD rocket launchers, howitzers, and tanks. The road to the city is under heavy fire. Tbilisi should provide at least a 2-3 hours corridor to evacuate the wounded."
• 20:16 The OSInform News Agency reported that a heavy fighting with the Georgian infantry continues on the south and southwest outskirts of Tskhinvali.
• 21:27 South Ossetia's military shotdown a Georgian attack plane. The fall of the blazing plane was videotaped and played on the Russian Vesti television channel.
• 23:50 A five-hour artillery onslaught on the city ended. The OSInform News Agency claims that a major Georgian attack has been stopped, reporting 12 Georgian tanks destroyed and 1 Georgian bomber shot down. The fighting with the Georgian infantry on the south of Tshinvali continues. Civilians still remain in the basements with no food or water. The South Ossetian forces complain that Georgia has yet not provided a peace corridor to evacuate the civilians caught up in crossfire.

August 10, 2008

• 07:30 "The artillery fire from both sides continued throughout the night. The Georgian troops fired at Tskhinvali from the surrounding heights. There was some battle near the town of Kvais, and an attempt to capture the village of Singur", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 08:00 "There's some stagnation at this time. Some of the people in the basements have come outside. The Ossetians continue mopping up the snipers. A group of snipers is hiding in the Emalprovod Cable Plant building. As far as you can assess it visually, there seems to be more bodies of Georgian soldiers, than the Ossetians. Some battle continues on the outskirts. The Russian tanks are in the city.... About 5000 thousand of civilians still remain in the city. Georgia has not yet provided a peace corridor for their evacuation... A raiding squad of about 30 persons has infiltrated into the village of Tbet at night (August 9-10) which is used by the civilians who try to escape from Tskhinavli. There is a broken car now standing on the road with the civilians they shot on spot. A family in one of the Tbet's homes has also been shot to death, there are children among the dead", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 09:52 The South Ossetia Secretary of State Konstantin Kochiyev told the REGNUM News Agency, "The situation in the Republic of South Ossetia has changed to a catastrophe during the past two day. The city of Tskhinvali no longer exists. The number of dead is uncountable, there seem to be thousands. How many more have been tortured to death by the Georgian aggressors is hard to imagine. This cannot be forgiven. The atrocities of the Georgian troops are beyond measure. South Ossetia will never forgive what has happened to our people. There are many dead bodies of Georgian soldiers and broken vehicles both on the outskirts of Tskhinvali and near its center. Today and last night, the Ossetian fighters continued defending the territory, but the enemy doesn't stop. Our forces are running out. We're waiting for Russia to support. It's not even about hours, it's about minutes."
• 12:00 "The battle outside Tskhinvali continues. There is heavy firing from both sides. Self-propelled artillery vehicles, GRAD rocket launchers and aircraft can be heard. Some gunshots in the city -- the chase for the remaining Georgian snipers continues", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 13:43 "An unexploded cluster bomb of non-Russian design outlawed in 100 countries was found in one of the destroyed houses of Tskhinvali", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 14:16 "The number of the onslaught casualties is now being determined nearing 1500 persons. Military maps with plans to capture Tskhinvali are often found in the packs of dead Georgian soldiers", reports the OSInform News Agency.
• 23:27 The city came under artilery fire again. The joined Ossetian and Russian forces are trying to surpress it by firing back. They also continue mopping up the Georgian snipers. Moreover, the extermination of snipers continues in the villages that were previously occupied by the Georgian forces. The evacuation of civilians is under way, but some people stay to defend the city or bury their relatives, friends or neighbors .

August 11, 2008

• 00:55 The Health Minister of South Ossetia Nugzar Gabarayev said that the last group of 100 wounded has been evacuated from the Republican Hospital bombed down by the Georgian artillery .

The Legacy of the Battle

Control of Tskhinvali

As of Sat Aug 9, 2008 1:44pm EDT: While some sources claim Russian forces have entered the city, others claim Russian forces have only deployed on the outskirts, with Georgian forces still in control of the city center.

As of August 10 2008, a senior Georgian official said Georgian troops pulled out of the breakaway province of South Ossetia, as Russia had demanded. However, according to the Russians some Georgian snipers and mobile infantry groups still remained in Tskhinvali.

Tskhinvali Destroyed

While details of the control of Tskhinvali are controversial, many sources confirm that the capital of South Ossetia has been almost completely (over 70%) devastated by the Georgian artillery fire by the night of August 8, the day of the Olympics Opening Ceremony in China. The heavy artillery barrage on the suburban area began at 23:30, August 7, 2008.

Casualties and captives

According to the Russian officials' estimate about 1500-2000 civilians have died (considering the pre-war population being around 30,000). Vyacheslav Kovalenko told the Russian agency that 13 Russian peacekeepers were killed and up to 70 injured in the fighting . A South Ossetian official claimed that foreign mercenaries were found among the dead Georgian soldiers, some described as having Black ethnicity. Some Georgian captives from the battlefield could not speak neither Georgian, Russian nor English.

Accusations of Genocide by Georgian troops

The South Ossetian spokesmen repeatedly accused the Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili of genocide, whereas eyewitnesses and survivors speaking on Russian TV channels referred to the event as "a massacre, not a military operation".

During the meeting with Russia' Prime Minister Vladimir Putin the South Ossetian refugees reported that "in the Znaur region, the Georgians burned up a few young women in their home... We've seen a Georgian tank run over an old lady running away with two children... We've seen a one-and-a-half-year-old baby knived by a Georgian soldier"

The Central Committee of Information and Press of South Ossetia reported on August 10 that eight small towns (or villages) in South Ossetia were leveled and their defenders massacred. As Ilona Dzhoyeva, a 19-year-old student and a resident of the village of Dmenes, said, "The Georgian aircraft bombed the houses of civilians, and then the soldiers came in shooting elders, women and children point-blank... The running people were shot on sight, the wounded were finished off by shots in the head. Only a few of us managed to escape from our village... We got to the position of the Russian peacekeepers and they brought us to safety... "

South Ossetian spokesmen, Irina Glagoleva, said "There are several reports from South district of Tskhinvali that Georgian troops seized civilians as a hostages and took them away. These hostages were found beheaded later"

The Situation in Gori

While there was no ground fighting in Gori, the launch point of the Georgian military, the city was attacked from the air and areas associated with the Georgian military were heavily damaged.

Videos

• Russian convoy moving towards Tskhinvali, 06:20
• Destruction in Tskhinvali, 01:36
• Casualties in Tskhinvali, 05:17
• Damaged hospital building in Tskhinvali, 02:17

External links

• South Ossetia news
  
• Private page about South Ossetia War
  
• Fighting rages in Tskinvali
  
• Speech of the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
• OSInform News Agency