Ceasefire uncertain as Russians control Tskhinvali

Even as the withdrawal of Georgian forces from the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali was confirmed by the Russian military, there were reports of continued fighting including the sinking of several Georgian warships and an attack by Russian jets on Tbilisi's airport.

The Defence Ministry in Moscow however denied the allegations, saying the reports of an attack at the airport were "a provocation with the aim of deceiving the international community."

A Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa reporter at the scene however reported that an airfield near the capital's airport was smoking after the attack described as one of the most daring across Georgia since fighting broke out.

Officials said that since Friday Russian planes had bombed near a military base in Vaziani, a military airport in Marneuli, the port of Poti and a railway junction and an airport in Senaki.

Russia confirmed receiving Sunday a Georgian diplomatic note announcing an immediate unilateral ceasefire in the conflict over South Ossetia, but criticised the continuation of combat operations in the conflict region, according to the Interfax news agency.

The note reportedly told the Russian Foreign Ministry that Georgian forces were to cease fire as of Sunday by order of President Mikheil Saakashvili, with all "military units" to be withdrawn from "the conflict area" and "a corridor for humanitarian purposes" was to be created.

At the height of the conflict, ground fighting between Russian and Georgian forces had been the fiercest at Tskhinvali, in infantry battles throughout the night as Russian forces engaged Georgian troops holding heights overlooking the town.

One report had a Russian commander, General Anatoly Khrulev leading the Russian 58th army, wounded in the fighting.

"We're not fighting against the Georgian state, rather instead carrying out a peace mission," a member of the Russian general staff, Anatoli Nogowizyn, said in Moscow Sunday.

Georgia, claiming Sunday that 15 of its cities have been bombarded by Russia, charged that Moscow was invading Georgia itself.

"We are dealing with a total Russian aggression and invasion - on land, air and at sea," said Aleksander Lomaia, secretary of the Georgian National Security Council, described a widening conflict in a telephone conference call with journalists.

The war widened on Saturday with Abkhazia, like South Ossetia a separatist Georgian province supported by Moscow, attacking Georgian forces.

Warships from Russia's Black Sea fleet by Sunday morning had clamped down a naval blockade on Georgia's coastline, turning back "several civilian ships," said Aleksander Lomaia, Georgia's National Security Council Chief, in a statement.

Among freighters halted with warning shots was a Moldovan-flagged vessel carrying wheat to the port Poti, threatening Georgia's food supplies, Lomaia claimed.

By early Sunday morning in South Ossetia's Tskhinvali, heavy artillery fire - a feature of fighting since the war's outbreak - had practically halted, according to a South Ossetia army statement.

Some civilians remained trapped in the city, most of whose buildings are now badly damaged or destroyed, witnesses said.

Corpses in some cases three days old still were lying in Tskhinvali's streets, as artillery fire from both sides made burial impossible, the Interfax news agency reported.

Georgia gave its military losses as of Saturday at some 50 men dead and 450 wounded. Russia had admitted to 12 men dead and 150 injured.

Estimates of civilian dead in the fighting have exceeded 1,600 people. The Tskhinvali town hospital alone as of Sunday morning was treating 200 injured and had more than 50 dead in its morgue, according to the report.

It is estimated that more than 30,000 people have fled the crisis zone to neighbouring North Ossetia.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during a Saturday visit to Russia's 58th Army headquarters in Vladkavkaz said the Kremlin's intention was to push out or destroy all Georgian forces in South Ossetia. He justified the Russian offensive as part of a peacekeeping operation.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili the same day accused Russia of conducting all-out war against Georgia, pointing to airstrikes and a naval blockade outside the South Ossetia region.

Leaders around Europe and the world were making diplomatic efforts and statements to defuse the ongoing conflict - including France and Germany sending envoys to the region - but so far the international community has failed to produce any practical results.

The UN's Security Council on Sunday met again in emergency session on South Ossetia and, for the fourth day in a row, was unable to decide even on a common position statement, because of differences between Russia and the US.

The United States told the council a Russian official had said Moscow wants Saakashvili to resign.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told the council in an open meeting that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had discussed the conflict with his US counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, and demanded the resignation of Saakashvili, apparently as part of a settlement of the flare-up in fighting that began on Thursday.

In Moscow, Larov later said Rice had misinterpreted his statements. He said although Russia holds Saakashvili responsible for crimes against Russian citizens, he did not want the leader to step down only for Georgian troops to leave South Ossetia.

In Brussels, Nato and the European Union also called emergency meetings for later this week to discuss a joint response to the crisis. The EU also offered 1 million euros in emergency aid to victims of the fighting.

Russia's government was by the weekend moving quickly towards establishing even tighter links with the South Ossetia regime, with Putin announcing Moscow would spend a half billion dollars to rebuild Tskhinvali, and provincial Russian agencies offering aid to an estimated 34,000 refugees from the fighting.

Russia not only would provide the refugees food and shelter, but make sure that children now living in temporary housing or with relatives on the Russian side of the border, would start their school year on time, Putin said during a Sunday visit to the Russian city Gorkiy.

Georgia on Saturday had said it would recall a 2,000-man infantry brigade currently serving in Iraq and accounted the Georgian army's most effective fighting force.

Its return home would, however, be problematic, with a Russian blockade likely to prevent shipment of the brigade's heavy equipment home by sea, and the Russian air force potentially able to intercept any passenger flight from Iraq to Georgia.

Georgian media reported that US aircraft might carry the Georgian infantrymen home, placing Washington and Moscow on a collision course.

Another potential flashpoint for a widening of the war was in the Black Sea near the Georgian port Batumi, where Turkish warships had taken up station. There had been no reports by Sunday of contact between the Turks, and elements of the Russian navy operating further south.