Russia said it had seized the rebel capital, Tskhinvali, but Georgia denied the claim on the second day of fighting that also threatens oil and gas pipelines seen as crucial in the West.
Russian officials said the death toll now stood at 2,000 and 30,000 refugees from South Ossetia had fled over the border to Russia over the past 36 hours. It said two of its warplanes had been shot down, 13 of its soldiers killed and 70 wounded. Georgian officials said that on its side, 129 Georgians had been killed and 748 injured.
"I call for an immediate cease-fire," Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said in Tbilisi. "Russia has launched a full-scale military invasion of Georgia." He accused Russia of deliberately targeting civilians. US President George W. Bush said Russian attacks on Georgia marked a "dangerous escalation" of the crisis and urged Moscow to halt the bombing immediately. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told Bush the only solution was for Georgian troops to quit the conflict zone.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin defended Russia's incursion. "Russia's actions in South Ossetia are totally legitimate," he said in the Russian city of Vladikavkaz, near to the separatist Georgian region. "We urge the Georgian authorities to immediately stop their aggression against South Ossetia, to stop all violations of all standing agreements on a cease-fire and to respect the legal rights and interests of other people."
Russia's military action dramatically intensified its long-running stand-off with the pro-Western Georgian leadership that has sparked alarm in the West and led to angry exchanges at the United Nations reminiscent of the Cold War. Abkhazia, another pro-Russian enclave in Georgia, said its forces had begun an operation to drive out Georgian forces, possibly opening a second front against Tbilisi.
Bush, Saakashvili's main ally in the West, said Georgia's territorial integrity must be respected. "The attacks are occurring in regions of Georgia far from the zone of conflict in South Ossetia. They mark a dangerous escalation in the crisis," said Bush, who is attending the Olympics in Beijing.
In a telephone call with Bush, Medvedev "stressed that the only way out of the tragic crisis provoked by the Georgian leadership is a withdrawal by Tbilisi of its armed formations from the conflict zone," a Kremlin statement said. Russian officials said there could be no talks until Georgian forces pulled back.
STATE OF WAR: Britain said a delegation of US and European officials was travelling to Georgia to seek to broker a cease-fire. Georgia's parliament approved a state of war across the country for the next 15 days, while Russia accused the West of contributing to the violence by supplying Georgia with arms.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Ukraine, a former Soviet republic whose pro-Western government now wants membership of Nato and the European Union, had encouraged Georgia to carry out "ethnic cleansing" in South Ossetia.
Russia, which sent in tanks to back the South Ossetians, said its forces had "liberated" the enclave's capital, but Georgia said Tskhinvali was under its "complete control". The city could be seen shrouded in valley mist from the higher-up village of Tirdznisi, in the Georgian-controlled part of South Ossetia around 10 km away. Villagers had gone and Tskhinvali lay quiet below. The only noise came from Georgian artillery firing in the distance.
A Russian journalist said the South Ossetian capital had been badly damaged. "The town is destroyed. There are many casualties, many wounded," Zaid Tsarnayev told Reuters from Tskhinvali. Russian jets carried out up to five raids on mostly military targets around the Georgian town of Gori, close to the conflict zone in South Ossetia, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. At least one bomb hit an apartment block, killing 5 people.
A woman knelt in the street and screamed over the body of a dead man as the bombed apartment block burned nearby. Another old woman covered in blood stared into the distance and a man knelt by the road, his head in his hands. In Tbilisi, people were nervous but defiant. Most supported Saakashvili but had been shocked by the Russian reaction.
"To fight Russia is crazy," said music studio owner Giga Kvenetadze, 30. "But I do support Saakashvili ... And what Russia is doing is wrong. They must stop." Russia's ambassador to Georgia, Vyacheslav Kovalenko, said at least 2,000 civilians had been killed. Georgia said Russian planes had targeted a vital pipeline that carries oil to the West from Asia but had missed.
Russian troops poured into South Ossetia on Friday, hours after Georgia launched a major offensive aimed at restoring control over the province. Russia is the main backer of South Ossetian separatists and the majority of the population, who are ethnically distinct from Georgians, have been given Russian passports. Georgia was planning to bring its Iraq contingent of 2,000 soldiers home as soon as the United States can provide transport, the commander of the unit said on Saturday.
Russia and Georgia each blamed the other for the outbreak of fighting in the pro-Moscow enclave, which broke from Georgia when the Soviet Union was nearing collapse in the early 1990s. In New York, Belgium's UN ambassador was trying to get Security Council agreement on how to call for a halt to hostilities, diplomats said. Saakashvili, on CNN, appealed for the world's help. "People should really wake up to the reality of what is happening in the midst of the summer vacation and the Olympic Games," he said.