Al Jazeera
Georgian forces have withdrawn from Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, to positions outside of the city.
"Georgian
forces have temporarily left Tskhinvali as part of a tactical
manoeuvre.... They are in positions on the outskirts of Tskhinvali," a
spokeswoman for Temur Yakobashvili, the Georgian reintegration
minister, said on Sunday.
Georgia vs. Russia
Georgia
- Less than 25,000 armed personnel.
-19,000 troops in the Georgian army, around 2000 in the air force and 1,350 in the navy
- It posseses Soviet-era fighter jets and a small fleet of second-hand naval vessels
Russia
- More than one million permanent troops.
- 395,000 army troops, besides 190,000 conscripts and 170,000 personnel in the air force
- It is estimated to have 1,700 fighter aircraft and 22,000 armoured vehicles
Source: Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera's Jonah Hull, reporting from the town of Gori, said that the withdrawal began early this morning.
"There
have been eyewitness reports that Georgian troop columns have been
moving out of Tskhinvali and moving back into Georgian territory," he
said.
Eyewitnesses said a large convoy of military vehicles
carrying soldiers and towing heavy artillery was seen travelling south
on Sunday through the village of Ergneti, south of Tskhinvali.
'Russian control'
Speaking
at a news conference on Sunday, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, deputy chief of the
general staff of the Russian armed forces, said Russian peacekeeping
forces were now in control of most of the capital.
He said Georgia had not approached Russia regarding a request for a ceasefire.
The
city has been ravaged by fierce battles since Friday, when Georgian
troops launched an offensive to regain control over South Ossetia.
Russia responded by sending in tanks and troops and bombing Georgian territory.
The fighting is said to have left hundreds dead.
Georgia's
interior ministry said that Russia has brought 6,000 troops into its
territory and another 4,000 Russian troops are arriving by sea,
allegedly preparing for an invasion on Sunday.
Earlier, Mikheil Saakashvili, the Georgian president, said his country is officially at war with Russia.
On
Sunday, Georgia denied Russian media report that it had agreed with
Russia to create "humanitarian corridors" to evacuate refugees from
South Ossetia.
Shota Utiashvili, an interior ministry spokesman, said: "It's not true."
Earlier,
the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe had said it was
working on creating conditions for the evacuation of refugees from the
region after Georgia said it was withdrawing its forces from South
Ossetia.
Russian air raid
Georgia has said
that Russian planes bombed an airport attached to an aircraft
manufacturing plant located 15km from Tbilisi, its capital.
A Georgian interior ministry spokesman said the attack inflicted some damage to its runways but caused no casualties.
While
there has been no offical Russian response to the alleged bombing of
the airport, Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher said injuries had occurred.
"Five people have been injured in what appears to be a Russian air raid," he said reporting from the scene.
"When
you speak to people here, they have no idea why this place would be
targeted, while there are military parts housed here, it is not a
military base ... some say that perhaps there may have been confusion
on the Russian side."
Inside Georgian territory, Russian jets
carried out up to five raids targeting military installations around
the town of Gori, about 30km outside South Ossetia, on Saturday.
Nogovitsyn said Georgia had shot down a Russian fighter jet and were holding the pilot.
'Naval blockade'
Russian
warships have set up a sea blockade of Georgia, Russia's Interfax news
agency said on Sunday quoting a source in the Russian naval command.
"Our
navy sailors have been assigned the task of preventing arms and other
military supplies from reaching Georgia by sea," the source said.
Separately, RIA Novosti, another Russian news agency quoted a senior navy source as denying that a blockade was in effect.
"These
reports do not correspond with reality. A coastal blockade would mean
war with Georgia. We are not in a state of war with Georgia," the RIA
Novosti source said.
Interfax also said the Ukrainian foreign
ministry as saying that it reserved the right to bar Russian warships
dispatched to the Georgian coast from returning to their Ukrainian base
of Sevastopol.
"Ukraine ... reserves the right to bar warships
and vessels which could take part in the action (conflict with Georgia)
from returning to Ukrainian territory until the conflict is solved," it
said, quoting a Ukrainian foreign ministry statement.
Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based in the Ukrainian port.
Nogovitsyn said he could not comment on the statement.
South Ossetia deaths
A
spokeswoman for South Ossetia's separatist government said on Sunday
that at least 20 people were killed and 150 wounded by Georgian
shelling overnight in Tskhinvali, the regional capital.
Fighting in Tskhinvali is said to have claimed hundreds of lives [AFP]
Irina
Gagloyeva said Georgian forces "fired on Tskhinvali methodically all
night. But for now, a relative calm has settled in the city".
"The city is almost fully destroyed. Civilians left in the city are hiding in bomb shelters and basements," she said.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council met for a third time on Saturday to discuss the situation.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, said a ceasefire "would not be a solution".
"The fighting is still going on. The Georgian forces are continuing to be on the South Ossetian territory," he said.
"The Georgian forces must pull out of South Ossetia.
"And then they must accept the need to sign an agreement on non-use of force with South Ossetians."
Fighting in Abkhazia
There
was also fighting in Abkhazia, another breakaway region in western
Georgia, where separatist forces say they had launched air and
artillery strikes against Georgian troops.
The northern part of
the gorge is the only area of Abkhazia that has remained under Georgian
government control. The region broke away from Tbilisi in the early
1990s along with South Ossetia.
Georgia's interior ministry on Sunday said that Russian aircraft had bombed a town in the region.
"Russian
planes have not stopped bombing the Kodori Gorge since yesterday, and
now they are also bombing Zugdidi," a Georgian town close to Abkhazia,
an interior ministry spokesman said.
On Saturday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Georgia had repelled several attacks in the area by Abkhaz separatists.
The
head of Georgia's national security council said Sunday that Russian
naval vessels had arrived in the Abkhaz port of Ochamchira.
Russia has yet to the comment on the claims that it attacked the Kodori Gorge or sent naval vessels to Abkhazia.