Latest developments
Into Georgia: Russian tanks roared deep into Georgia on Monday, launching a new western front in the conflict, and Russian planes staged air raids. While most Georgian forces were fighting in South Ossetia, Russian troops opened the western attack by invading from a second separatist province, Abkhazia, on Georgia’s coastal northwest arm.
Gori: Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said at a national security meeting that Russia had taken central Gori, which is on Georgia’s only east-west highway, cutting off the eastern half of the nation from the western Black Sea coast. But the news agency Interfax cited a Russian Defense Ministry official as denying Gori was captured.
Other affected areas: Russian forces moved into Senaki, 20 miles inland from the Black Sea, and seized police stations in Zugdidi, just outside the southern fringe of Abkhazia. Abkhazian allies took control of the nearby village of Kurga, according to witnesses and Georgian officials.
Bush’s warning: President Bush demanded that Russia end the “dramatic and brutal escalation” of violence, agree to an immediate cease-fire and accept international mediation.
Troops return: The Pentagon said it had finished flying about 2,000 Georgian soldiers back home from Iraq on C-17 aircraft at Georgia’s request.
The Associated Press
