Please Heather in your thoughts/prayers!!

My roommate Heather is stationed in Georgia for the Peace Corps. Trouble broke there in the last 24 hours. I do not know where she is located within Georgia, and am worried about her safety. Please keep her, as well as other PC volunteers in the area, in your thoughts and prayers!

Georgian, Russian Troops Clash in South Ossetia
Putin Vows to Protect S. Ossetians, Says Conflict Will Lead to 'Retaliatory Actions'

By Peter Finn
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, August 8, 2008; 2:03 PM

MOSCOW, Aug. 8 -- Russian and Georgian military forces clashed in the separatist province of South Ossetia on Friday, with Russian tanks and troops pushing in after a Georgian assault on the disputed area.

Russia, which has peacekeeping troops in the area, said it was coming to the defense of its citizens, who it says were threatened by Georgian aircraft, tanks and artillery. Georgia's president, meanwhile, said the two countries were at war, and he called on the United States to back up its support of a nation that is vying to become a member of NATO.

Georgian officials later charged that Russian aircraft bombed at least three Georgian military bases, destroying some aircraft and inflicting casualties.

The Bush administration and the two U.S. presidential candidates issued statements calling for a cease-fire. The State Department said the United States was sending an envoy to the region to meet with both sides and seek an end to the hostilities; a spokesman said the United States supports "Georgia's territorial integrity."

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who are running against each other in the November presidential election, separately called for the U.N. Security Council to help end the violence. McCain appear to take a harsher line against Russia in his statement.

"We urge all parties, Georgians, South Ossetians and Russians, to de-escalate the tension and avoid conflict," White House press secretary Dana Perino said. "We are working on mediation efforts to secure a cease-fire and we are urging the parties to restart their dialogue." President Bush discussed the situation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in Beijing, where both were attending the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics, administration officials said. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has also talked to the parties and plans to send an envoy to the region, officials said.

Georgia requested an emergency meeting of the Security Council Friday to deal with what its U.N. envoy called an "invasion of Georgian territory," including air attacks and bombing. The council was scheduled to meet Friday afternoon, a spokesman for its rotating presidency said.

The conflict escalates a long-standing feud between Russia and Georgia, formerly part of the Soviet Union, over a region that is geographically part of Georgia but includes a large Russian population.

Putin said Georgia's action was a matter of "grave concern, and it will certainly lead to retaliatory actions."

Russian state television showed pictures of a column of tanks and troops that it said was already inside South Ossetia. "Additional reinforcements has been sent to the region to help the peacekeepers prevent bloodshed," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili also said Russia had entered South Ossetia.

"One hundred fifty Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles have entered South Ossetia," he told a news briefing. "This is a clear intrusion on another country's territory. We have Russian tanks on our territory, jets on our territory in broad daylight."

Georgia's Deputy Interior Minister Eka Sguladze said Russia has already launched military action against Georgia. Sguladze said seven civilians were injured when Russian Su-24 jets bombed the town of Gori and two villages, all of which are located inside what Georgia considers its territory.

Georgian media also said Russian warplanes continued to attack Georgian positions throughout Friday.

Russia denied the charge that its combat aircraft were involved in hostilities as well as a claim by Saakashvili that Georgian forces had shot down two Russian jet fighters.

Officials of Georgia's Foreign Affairs and Interior ministries said Russian aircraft bombed the Marneuli air base, another air base in Bolnisi and the Vaziani military installation about 15 miles from the capital. The Foreign Affairs Ministry said several Georgian military aircraft were destroyed in the raid on the Marneuli base. A Georgian television station said four people were killed and five wounded in that attack.

Marat Kulakhmetov, the commander of Russian peacekeepers in South Ossetia, said his forces "had some losses," the Russian news agency Interfax reported. Kulakhmetov did not say how many Russian troops had been killed or injured. Interfax reported that shells hit a Russian barracks in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia.

More than 10 Russian peacekeepers have been killed and about 30 have been wounded in fighting in Tskhinvali, Col. Igor Konashenkov, aide to the commander-in-chief of the Russian Ground Forces, told Interfax.

"The Georgian leadership has launched a dirty adventure," the Russian Defense Ministry said. "The blood spilled in South Ossetia will remain on the conscience of these people and their entourage. We will not leave our peacekeepers and Russian citizens unprotected."

On Friday afternoon, Georgia officials said they ordered a three-hour cease-fire so civilians and South Ossetian fighters could flee. "The separatists have been given a chance to lay down arms voluntarily," said Gigi Ugulava, the mayor of Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.

But heavy gunfire quickly resumed, according to reporters in the city.

Putin told Bush in Beijing that "war has started today in South Ossetia," according to Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Putin also said Russia was unable to restrain the thousands of Russian paramilitary volunteers who are also reportedly crossing into South Ossetia to fight Georgia.

The United States, European Union and NATO called on both sides to end the fighting. Georgia, whose military has received training and equipment from the United States, aspires to NATO membership.

In a statement issued while he was flying to flying to Hawaii for a vacation from campaigning, Obama also said Georgia's territorial integrity "must be respected" and called for talks. "I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia and urge an immediate end to armed conflict," he said. "Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint and to avoid an escalation to full-scale war."

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.

There were reports from Tskhinvali that civilians were huddling in cellars to shelter from the shelling. Boris Chochiyev, a minister in the South Ossetian government, which is not recognized internationally, said that shells caused extensive damage in the center of Tskhinvali. Electricity was out in much of the city and humanitarian organizations said hospitals were struggling to cope with the wounded.

Officials in the separatist government said at least 15 people had been killed Friday. Civilians from South Ossetia were flooding to the border with Russia, according to news reports here.

Russian media reported that paramilitaries were also streaming across the border from Russia, including from North Ossetia, a Russian republic that shares ethnic ties with the South Ossetians.

The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting early Friday, but failed to back a statement drafted by Russia that would have called on both Georgia and the South Ossetians to "renounce the use of force." The United States and Britain supported Georgia's objections to the wording of the statement.

"We think that this is a very serious error of judgment and political blunder," said Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations. "I hope that the Georgian side will reconsider its reckless actions in the area of the Georgia-South Ossetian conflict."