MOSCOW — Russian tanks rumbled into the breakaway Georgian republic of South Ossetia on Friday, warplanes launched airstrikes and fighters reportedly made their way over the border, as Moscow pushed closer to full-blown war against U.S.-backed Georgia.
The fighting that erupted between Georgia on the one hand, and Russia and Ossetian rebels on the other, over the mountainous sliver of land threatened to provide a battleground for long-simmering tensions between Moscow and the West.
At nightfall, each side was calling in reinforcements and pumping out radically different versions of the day's events in the region, which is strategically important for its oil and gas pipelines.
A sharp escalation began earlier Friday, when Georgia launched a large-scale, predawn military operation meant to seize control of the rebel region, whose de facto autonomy and ties to Russia have long been an irritant to Georgian leaders. Backed by warplanes, Georgian troops plunged into South Ossetia and waged a hard battle throughout the day for control of the republic's capital, Tskhinvali.
Officials on both sides reported civilian deaths, though estimates could not be confirmed. Hundreds were reported killed in the fighting. South Ossetian officials claimed 1,400 of their people had died.
Each side blamed the other for violating a shaky cease-fire and throwing the republic back into fighting. And both claimed that victory was almost theirs.
Tskhinvali's status remained unclear late Friday. Both sides, by turns, claimed to have seized control of most of the city. Russian troops reported that many of the buildings had been destroyed and that the parliament building burned to the ground. Aid organizations warned that civilians were hiding in basements without water, electricity or medical help.
Georgian officials said warplanes hit Poti on the Black Sea, an oil shipping port. News reports said bombs also fell near the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.
The United Nations Security Council called its second emergency session in less than 24 hours in an attempt to prevent war, but by Friday evening diplomats remained unable to reach an agreement on a statement calling for negotiations and an end to violence.
In Beijing, where President Bush was attending the Olympics, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said the United States, which "supports Georgia's territorial integrity," was calling for an immediate cease-fire. The Pentagon has about 200 troops in Georgia training Georgian units deployed to Iraq, officials said.
