The Battle of Tskhinvali (2008) (Georgian: ცხინვალის ბრძოლა; Russian: Бои за Цхинвали) was a fight for the city of Tskhinvali, the capital of the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia. It was the only major battle in the Russo-Georgian War. Georgian ground troops entered the city on early 8 August 2008. After the three-day fierce fighting with South Ossetian militia and Russian troops, Georgian troops finally withdrew from the city on the evening of 10 August. By 11 August, all Georgian troops had left South Ossetia and Russian forces advanced into undisputed Georgia facing no resistance.
Background
Deployment and goals
Tskhinvali is located about 25 km (16 mi) from Gori.
At 8:00 am on 1 August, an improvised explosive device detonated on the road near Tskhinvali near a Georgian police vehicle, wounding five police officers. In response, Georgian snipers fired on South Ossetian positions, killing four Ossetians and wounding seven. Grenades and mortar fire were exchanged during the night of 1/2 August. The total Ossetian fatalities became six and the total wounded were now fifteen, among them several civilians; the Georgian casualties were six wounded civilians and one wounded policeman. According to the OSCE mission, the incident was the worst outbreak of violence since 2004. On 2–3 and again on 3–4 August, firing recommenced during the night.
It was reported on 5 August 2008 that 300 volunteers from North Ossetia arrived in Tskhinvali to fight against Georgia, while mobilization of up to 2000 “volunteers” and Cossacks began in the North Caucasus. Freelance photographer Said Tsarnayev came to Tskhinvali on 7 August 2008 and intended to take photos of the nature. 48 Russian journalists had already been present for several days at Tsarnayev's hotel as "if they knew that something was going to happen."
By 20:16 Moscow Time on 7 August 2008, state-controlled Rossiya TV aired President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh as saying: "I have spoken to the president of South Ossetia. It has more or less stabilized now. A battalion from the North Caucasus District has entered the area." On 10 August 2008, Moskovskij Komsomolets published a report by journalist who was in Tskhinvali on the night of 7 August. The report states, "There are 1700 peacekeepers here." According to Russian Defence Ministry official, the 1990s ceasefire accord permitted Russia to station 500 peacekeepers in the conflict zone with 300 additional peacekeepers being reserved for the crises.
On 7 August 2008, foreign intelligence data indicating the deployment of the Russian forces near the Roki Tunnel became known to the Georgian government and numerous Georgian sources have stated that President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili became aware that more than 100 Russian military transport had already entered the Roki tunnel at about 23:00 on 7 August. Chief of Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces, Zaza Gogava, told the Georgian parliamentary commission in October 2008 that Saakashvili told him on the secure line at 23:35 on 7 August that "developments went beyond all the limits" and issued orders to stop the ongoing invasion by Russian military hardware, to neutralise Ossetian artillery positions and to defend the civilians. Gogava, explaining the rationale for moving into Tskhinvali, said that "initially such a move was not envisaged", and the first reason for taking the city was to secure Georgian outposts under Ossetian artillery attack and the army had "to move fire line forward" inside Tskhinvali; the second motive was that the residents of the villages north to Tskhinvali could not be rescued via the by-pass road.
According to opposition-minded Russian pundits, Georgian president Saakashvili did not intend to initiate hostilities in August 2008. It was Russia that began deployment of the 58th Army in the Dzau District to accumulate weaponry in preparation for the future occupation of Georgia and ordered separatists in Tskhinvali to open fire to divert Georgians' attention, but Georgian president dared to attack the invading Russian troops and take Tskhinvali, thus subverting the Russian Blitzkrieg. Tbilisi was not taken due to the intervention of the international community.
According to Russian analyst Konstantin Makienko, founder of the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), the Georgian objective was "a rapid destruction of the Ossetian armed forces and a lightning capture of the republic's capital city of Tskhinvali — well before the Russian army could have a chance to intervene" and to establish a pro-Georgian regime in Tskhinvali with Dmitry Sanakoyev as its head. In anticipation of a Georgian operation, South Ossetia had deployed the bulk of its force to protect the town of Java in the north, which had left Tskhinvali sparsely defended.
According to the Moscow Defence Brief, an English-language magazine published by the Russian non-governmental organisation the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, the Georgian troops included the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Infantry Brigades, the Artillery Brigade, part of the 1st Infantry Brigade and the standalone Gori Tank Battalion. Additionally, special forces and Ministry of Internal Affairs servicemen were deployed. The total number of troops participating in the war was 16,000 according to the magazine. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, ten light infantry battalions of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th infantry brigades, special forces and an artillery brigade, totalling approximately 12,000 troops, had been deployed in the war. According to the EU fact-finding mission, 10,000–11,000 Georgian soldiers took part in the war.
According to the materials that were made available to Independent International Fact-Finding Mission by the South Ossetian authorities, South Ossetian light rifle battalions, artillery units and Soviet-era armoured vehicles took part in the conflict. The total strength of separatist military and law enforcement servicemen, including reservists, was less than 3,500.
Former Chief of the General Staff of Russia Yuri Baluyevsky admitted in 2012 that the plan for the war with Georgia had been created in advance before August 2008 with the blessing of Vladimir Putin. In addition to the building of Russian military bases in South Ossetia, South Ossetian separatists were provided with weaponry and instructors. According to Baluyevsky, the Russian military had chosen South Ossetia as the site for the armed conflict by the summer 2008 and the date of hostilities "was defined from July to September" mostly to coincide with the Beijing Olympic Games. President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev had to authorize the use of force against Georgia as soon as Georgian artillery would attack South Ossetian militants and Russian military then would arrive in Tskhinvali in 6 hours. However, as researcher Andrey Illarionov observed, neither Putin nor Medvedev issued the order in August 2008 to start military operations against Georgia, but it was Major General M. Kulakhmetov, the commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces, who did so at about 23:50 on August 7 and the Russian operation began "at least 6 hours before the deaths of the Russian peacekeepers". However, due to the resistance offered by the Georgian military and artillery, the Russian forces did not manage to enter Tskhinvali in 6 hours as planned, which compelled the Russian leadership to alter their plans and finally the Russian military managed with the help of additional reinforcements deployed on 9 August, to enter Tskihnvali "only in early morning of August 10". On 9 August 2008, Putin ordered the Russian forces deployed to Tskhinvali to capture Tbilisi.
Battle
Georgian attack
Artillery preparation
Georgian artillery launched smoke bombs into South Ossetia at 23:35 on 7 August. This was followed by a 15-minute intermission, which purportedly enabled the civilians to escape, before the Georgian forces began bombarding hostile positions. Georgian military intentionally targeted South Ossetian military objects, not civilian ones.
Major-general Marat Kulakhmetov, the Commander of Joint Peacekeeping Forces, received in addition to an information on the start of the Georgian military operation in South Ossetia, the request from Mamuka Kurashvili (the commander of the Georgian peacekeepers) not to obstruct the operation. Although Georgian military had pledged safety to the Russian peacekeepers for their neutrality, the Russian peacekeepers had to follow the Russian command to attack the Georgian troops.
Georgian advance
Artillery fire against aims in Khetagurovo was opened by the 4th Brigade at 00:40 and soon afterwards the village of Muguti was captured by the two Georgian light infantry battalions. The village of Khetagurovo was then captured by the two battalions after a battle with an inferior South Ossetian troops and several Ossetian-controlled villages of Znaur District to the west of Tskhinvali were taken by another battalion without meeting opposition, while the several villages of Akhalgori District were promptly taken by Georgian Interior Ministry special commandos. The purpose of the Georgian army was to advance to the north after capturing key positions around Tskhinvali. The Georgian troops would secure the Gupta bridge and the road to the Roki Tunnel, barring the Russian military from moving southward.
Georgian sources state that the Georgian artillery hit the Russian troops on the road from the Roki Tunnel at 01:00. Separatist administrative buildings in Tskhinvali came under Georgian fire at 2:00 AM. Georgian troops started closing in on Tskhinvali following several hours of bombardment. Ossetian bombardment of the Georgian forces near the village of Zemo Nikozi and Georgian artillery were unsuccessful. Ossetian peacekeeping battalion began to participate in the conflict. Georgian forces engaged South Ossetian fighters near the town at 04:00 on 8 August, with Georgian tanks remotely shelling South Ossetian positions. An attempt to take the village of Kvaisa from the west of South Ossetia by the Georgian special forces was thwarted by a platoon of South Ossetian troops occupying secure positions, wounding several Georgian soldiers. The Georgian 3rd Infantry Brigade entered the Eredvi area on the eastern flank to Tskhinvali at 06:00 and captured strategic positions; however, they were quickly confronted by a company-sized South Ossetian unit positioned at the Prisi Heights. Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Iakobashvili told Agence France-Presse that Georgian government did not wish "to assault Tskhinvali, but to neutralise separatist positions," and that Georgian troops had taken control of eight South Ossetian villages. South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity had told Interfax that the Georgian assault of Tskhinvali was a "perfidious and vile" action. By the morning, the South Ossetian authorities had reported that the Georgian shelling had killed at least 15 civilians.
According to Georgia, Ministry of Internal Affairs special troops entered into southern suburbs of Tskhinvali around 06:00 AM. Artillery and tanks aided the Georgian advance. Georgian troops traded fire with Russian peacekeepers near the Southern complex of the Russian peacekeepers at the entrance of the city. The Russians placed three BMP-1 vehicles near the base after coming under fire from the Georgian Otokar Cobra vehicles. The Georgians called in tank support, and three T-72s from the Independent Combined Tank Battalion soon arrived. According to the CAST, the Georgian tanks began firing at 6:30 and a Russian peacekeeper along with a South Ossetian spectator present on the roof were killed. The tanks then fired on the three Russian BMP-1 vehicles stationed in front of the base, killing five of their crew, who were soldiers of the 135th Motorized Infantry Regiment. During the engagement, one of the Georgian tanks, which was damaged by an RPG-7 rocket, became trapped in an irrigation ditch near the complex and was ditched by its crew. The remaining two tanks continued shelling the base from a remote distance and were joined by Georgian artillery and mortars. The centre of the town was reached by 1,500 Georgian infantrymen by 10:00. The Russian air force began raiding targets inside South Ossetia and Georgia proper after 10:00 on 8 August.