The war in August 2008
At about the midnight of August 9 there fell temporary lull in Tskhinval. As declared by the commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces Marat Kulakhmetov, the parties were preparing for the upcoming fighting at night.
At 1:15 the Chairman of the Committee for Information and Press of South Ossetia Irina Gagloeva reported that the Georgian troops had been completely ousted from the South Ossetian capital Tskhinval.
"Now there fell ominous silence in the town, the fire is ceased. Georgian troops have been completely ousted from the town, "- she said.
At 1:30 the peacekeepers` positions in South Ossetia were again mortared by the Georgian army. Meanwhile, Marat Kulakhmetov declared that the Georgian side was bombarding the residential quarters of Tskhinval. About 2:30 the bombardment of the capital of South Ossetia was ceased.
At 7:30 the 58th division of the Russian army arrived in Tskhinval, starting the preparation for the operation to enforce the aggressor to peace. Assistant Commander of the Land Forces of the Russian Federation Igor Konashenkov said that the head of the operational headquarters to assist peacekeepers, Commander -in-Chief of the Land Forces of the Russian Federation Vladimir Boldyrev ordered to suppress any fire in the zone of the peacekeepers.
According to him, in Tskhinval were deployed armored, artillery, motorized infantry and reconnaissance units of the 58th Army with the standard military equipment, as well as army aviation, massed at the nearest Russian military airfields.
At nine o'clock Tskhinval was again bombarded with shells from the Georgian villages.
In North Ossetia was held a meeting to provide assistance to residents of the Republic, where was expressed the readiness of North Ossetia to receive the civilians evacuated from the conflict zone, as well as the wounded.
The Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Vladimir Legkoev reported at the meeting that all hospitals in North Ossetia were ready to receive the wounded. By 13:00 it was reported that the Georgian military units were only on the Pris heights, but intensive shelling of residential quarters of Tskhinvali was conducted throughout the day.
On the same day Abkhazia declared the beginning of the military operation in the Kodori Gorge.
In the evening of August 9, the Georgian army again attempted to penetrate into the southern outskirts of Tskhinval by tanks that led to fierce street battles.
There was a catastrophic situation in the town; the civilians were in basements without water, where they could not get out for a minute. The situation called for drastic measures. The women, children and the elderly of Tskhinval, through the available means of communication appealed to the President, the leadership of Russia and the international community to organize a corridor for their evacuation.
The head of North Ossetia, Teimuraz Mamsurov made a statement: "Now it is clear that Georgia committed an act of aggression against South Ossetia. In this situation, there remain no more illusions - we all need to understand our primary mission to defend South Ossetia, thinking only about its further revival. "
Georgian tanks, meanwhile, tried again to force through to the Zar road. By 21:00 there were fierce battles in Tskhinval, the firing ceased at about 23:00 on August 9.
Representatives of Ossetia - participants of the XXIX Olympic Games in Beijing,- also condemned the actions of Georgia. They expressed strong protest on unprecedented barbaric actions of the Georgian authorities, "who cynically ignored the Olympic Truce, concluded for the period of the Games."
They appealed to the international community not to be indifferent to the outrageous actions of the Georgian authorities, to take drastic measures and require the rejection of Georgia's security methods to "restore peace" to South Ossetia.
