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Georgian, Russian Troops Clash in South Ossetia
![[MAP: South Ossetia, Georgia]](http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/08/08/GR2008080802181.gif)
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McCain said while campaigning in Iowa that the United States should convene an emergency session of the Security Council to resolve the crisis. "What's most critical now is to avoid further confrontation between Russian and Georgian military forces," he told reporters.
In a written statement, McCain also urged Russia to "immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory." He added, "The consequences for Euro-Atlantic stability and security are grave."
McCain called for diplomatic pressure on Russia "to reverse this perilous course it has chosen," and he said the international community "needs to establish a truly independent and neutral peacekeeping force in South Ossetia.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, facing his first major crisis, called an emergency meeting of Russia's national security council. "We will not tolerate the death of our citizens," Medvedev said at the meeting. "Those guilty will receive due punishment."
Georgian officials said the offensive was triggered early Friday after South Ossetian separatists continued to shell Georgian villages following the announcement of a unilateral ceasefire by Saakashvili on Thursday. The two sides have long skirmished along the unofficial border between Georgia and South Ossetia.
Saakashvili said that Georgian troops had reached the outskirts of Tskhinvali and were fighting for control of the city center. Reporters in the city said many houses were engulfed in flames, a hospital was destroyed and a university was on fire. One Russian peacekeeper told Interfax that the Tskhinvali was "practically destroyed."
Saakashvili said his forces had "freed" Tskhinvali. In a televised address, he said he had ordered a total military mobilization, including the call-up of all reservists. "Only thus shall we save our country," he said.
"A full-scale aggression has been launched against Georgia," said Saakashvili. "Georgia will not yield its territory or renounce its freedom."
In an interview on CNN, he called on the United States to back up its support of Georgia's democracy, comparing the situation to Soviet Cold War crackdowns in places such as Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan.
"This is not about a tiny separatist area inside Georgia . . . This is not about Georgia anymore. It is about America, its values," he said.
South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway part of Georgia, have enjoyed de facto independence since the early 1990s when they broke with Georgia following short wars. Saakashvili has long pledged to restore Georgia's sovereignty in the two areas, which enjoy close relations with Russia, but not diplomatic recognition.
Most residents of South Ossetia, which has a population of about 70,000, hold Russian passports. And Georgia has long claimed that Russian peacekeepers back separatists in both South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
