TBILISI, Georgia - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered a halt to military action in Georgia on Tuesday, after five days of air and land attacks sent Georgia's army into a headlong retreat and left ports, military bases, towns and homes smoldering.Georgian officials insisted that Russia has continued the bombings despite Medvedev's pledge.
More than 2,000 people have been reported killed in the fighting, but the death toll was expected to rise, for large areas of Georgia were too dangerous for journalists to enter. Tens of thousands of terrified residents have fled the fighting — South Ossetians north to Russia, and Georgians west toward the capital of Tbilisi and the country's Black Sea coast.
Hours before Medvedev's announcement, Russian forces bombed the key Georgian city of Gori and launched an offensive in the part of separatist Abkhazia still under Georgian control, tightening the assault on the beleaguered nation.
RTL television news, a Dutch station, reported that at least five people were killed when Russian warplanes bombed the central Georgian city of Gori overnight, including its cameraman Stan Storimans, 39. RTL correspondent Jeroen Akkermans was also wounded in the leg.
Georgian officials said Gori's university and its post office were on fire Tuesday after the bombings, and reported six deaths, including one child.
However, Russian deputy chief of General Staff Anatoly Nogovitsyn on Tuesday denied that Russian forces bombed Gori.
Russian forces ripped open a second battlefront in western Georgia on Monday, moving deep into Georgian territory from separatist province of Abkhazia. They seized a military base in the town of Senaki and occupied police precincts in the town of Zugdidi.
In central Georgia, Russian troops advanced into Georgia from another separatist province, South Ossetia, taking positions near Gori on the main east-west highway as terrified civilians. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said his country had effectively been cut in half.
Georgia borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia and was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. South Ossetia and Abkhazia have run their own affairs without international recognition since fighting to split from Georgia in the early 1990s.
Both separatist provinces are backed by Russia. Russian officials had given signals that the fighting could pave the way for them to be absorbed into Russia.
The situation in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, remained tense Tuesday as sporadic fighting and artillery duels continued, but the city was in the control of Russian army and South Ossetian forces.
An APTN crew saw the dead body of a Georgian soldier was seen lying on the street in Tskhinvali and South Ossetian fighters fired rockets at a Georgian plane high in sky. Glass fragments scattered the ground, wrecked houses smoldered, housing debris littered the streets.
In the villages once populated by ethnic Georgians on the outskirts of Tskhinvali, South Ossetian fighters reportedly set fire to Georgian houses, and carried out searches in the villages.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who arrived in Moscow carrying Western demands for a Russian pullback, welcomed the decision to halt the fighting but said Georgia's sovereignty, integrity and security must be protected. There was no immediate comment from the United States.
Medvedev said on national television that the military had punished Georgia enough for its attack on South Ossetia. Georgia launched an offensive late Thursday to regain control over the separatist Georgian province, which has close ties to Russia.
"The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been restored," Medvedev said. "The aggressor has been punished and suffered very significant losses. Its military has been disorganized."
The Russian president, however, said he ordered the military to defend itself and quell any signs of Georgian resistance.
"If there are any emerging hotbeds of resistance or any aggressive actions, you should take steps to destroy them," he told his defense minister at a televised Kremlin meeting.
Nogovitsyn, the Russian general, said Medvedev's order means that the Russian troops would stay where they are and will retaliate if come under Georgian attack.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier Tuesday that Saakashvili should leave office and that Georgian troops should stay out of South Ossetia permanently.
As he started talks with Sarkozy, Medvedev said Georgia must pull its troops from the breakaway regions and pledge not to use force again to solve the conflict.
The U.N. and NATO had called meetings Tuesday to deal with the conflict, which blew up in South Ossetia and quickly developed into an East-West crisis that raised fears in former Soviet bloc nations of Eastern Europe.
Poland's president and the leaders of four ex-Soviet republics headed to Georgia for a meeting with President Mikhail Saakashvili to send a signal of solidarity with Tbilisi.
"We may say that the Russian state has once again shown its face, its true face," said Poland's Lech Kaczynski, who will be joined by counterparts from Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine and Latvia.
But he said it was " good news" that Medvedev ordered a halt to military action.
Nogovitsyn said Russian troops weren't in Gori but confirmed they have taken control of an airport in Senaki. Senaki is 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Abkhazia.
Nogovitsyn also dismissed Georgian reports that Russian warplanes Tuesday again bombed a pipeline carrying crude to the West. He said Russian planes never targeted the pipeline and accused Georgia of spreading false reports in order to rally anti-Russian sentiments in the West.
Bush had demanded Monday that Russia end a "dramatic and brutal escalation" of violence in Georgia, agree to an immediate cease-fire and accept international mediation.
"Russia has invaded a sovereign neighboring state and threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century," Bush said in a televised statement from the White House.
Lavrov said more than 2,000 people have been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, most of them Ossetians with Russian passports. The figures could not be independently confirmed, but refugees said hundreds had been killed.
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Associated Press writers Chris Torchia reported from Zugdidi, Georgia; Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili from Tbilisi, Georgia; David Nowak from Gori, Georgia; Douglas Birch from Vladikavkaz, Russia; Jim Heintz, Vladimir Isachenkov and Lynn Berry from Moscow; and Pauline Jelinek from Washington.
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