the capture of a number of key South Ossetian towns and retreat of Russian peacekeepers and South Ossetian forces. However, after a Russian peacekeepers' base was shelled and personnel killed, units of the Russian 58th Army, supported by irregular forces, entered South Ossetia through the Roki Tunnel, thus leading to a three-day battle which left the city of Tskhinvali in ruins. Georgian forces were subsequently forced to retreat and the Russian Air Force began launching airstrikes against Georgian forces in South Ossetia, and multiple targets inside Georgia proper. The Georgian Air Force resisted and later continued to carry out air strikes against Russian troops. A second front was opened when the separatist Republic of Abkhazia, with Russian support, launched an offensive against Georgian troops in the Kodori Valley. Georgian troops offered minimal resistance and soon withdrew. Russian paratroopers launched raids against military bases in Senaki, Georgia, from Abkhazia, whilst the Russian Navy stationed a task force off the coast of Abkhazia, and sank a Georgian Coast Guard cutter.
Russian forces, upon crossing into Georgia proper, soon entered Gori where Georgian forces has earlier regrouped before retreating to Tbilisi. Irregulars such as Ossetians, Chechens and Cossacks followed; looting, killing, and arson was reported. Russian troops removed military equipment abandoned by retreating Georgian troops in Gori and the port of Poti, where several naval and coast guard vessels moored in the harbour were scuttled.
On August 12, 2008, President Medvedev announced a halt to further Russian military operations in Georgia and ordered a gradual withdrawal from Gori, Poti and other established checkpoints. Despite this Russian forces remained in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the independence of which it soon recognized.
Because of the intensive fighting in South Ossetia, there were many disputed reports about the number of casualties on both sides,
