Russian forces were moving to take total control of South Ossetia last night as Georgia withdrew troops amid intense diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire to end the three-day conflict in which 2,000 people have reportedly been killed and up to 22,000 displaced. Seizing the opening offered by President Mikheil Saakashvili's doomed military incursion last week, Moscow also insisted the Georgian leader should resign, according to senior US diplomats.
Russian aircraft bombed Tbilisi's international airport hours before the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, was due to land on an EU mission, the Georgian interior ministry said. Last night it was reported that Russia sank a Georgian ship after coming under attack.
Russia and the US clashed at the UN security council - meeting for the fourth time in four days to discuss the crisis - over charges that Moscow wanted "regime change" in Georgia.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to the UN, asked his Russian counterpart Vitali Churkin: "Is the goal of the Russian Federation to change the leadership of Georgia?" Churkin replied: "There are leaders who become an obstacle. Sometimes those leaders need to contemplate how useful they have become to their people."
Meanwhile, the tide of refugees fleeing ruined towns and villages showed no sign of ending last night as Russian forces pushed forward after Saakashvili pulled his bloodied troops out of the territory.
People spoke of their ordeal since an unexpected incursion by Georgian forces into Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region, provoked a massive Russian response. Many had travelled in their nightclothes on rocky roads through the mountains and gave blood-curdling accounts of Georgian atrocities.
"I came in the boot of a car. Georgian snipers were firing at us from the forest. My brother stayed to fight. Our grandparents' home was reduced to rubble. We don't know where they are. Nothing is left of their village. It was totally destroyed by rockets and tank fire," Alisa Mamiyeva, 26, a teacher in Tskhinvali, said from the safety of Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia.
Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who has taken charge of the crisis, eclipsing the president, Dmitry Medvedev, visited refugees in hospitals in Vladikavkaz, and said 22,000 had crossed into Russia.
In Georgia, residents also gave accounts of horror, this time at Russian hands. Neither side is allowing independent reporters into the worst affected areas. Gori, the main staging post for Georgian troops on the way to and from South Ossetia, was largely a ghost town last night after thousands of residents escaped from Russian air attacks, a local journalist told the Guardian. "The town and many nearby villages are too dangerous. There are many wounded. No one knows how many are dead," said Saba Tsitsikashvili.
Georgia claimed its army's retreat in the face of overwhelming firepower was designed as a humanitarian gesture to prevent further Russian air attacks. "We have decided to redeploy our troops to get a chance to resist a superior Russian armed force with other methods," Timurt Yakobashvili, a Georgian state minister, said.
President Bush's deputy national security adviser, James Jeffrey, warned Russia of a "significant long-term impact" on US-Russian relations if Moscow continued its disproportionate actions.
Russian officials rejected claims that Moscow was trying to widen the conflict into Georgia's other breakway region of Abkhazia.
In a series of media interviews, Saakashvili sought to bring the United States fully behind him. After speaking to Bush by phone, he told Germany's Rhein-Zeitung newspaper: "[Bush] understands that it's not really about Georgia but in a certain sense it's also an aggression against America. The Russians want the whole of Georgia. The Russians need control over energy routes from central Asia and the Caspian Sea. In addition, they want to get rid of us, they want regime change. Every democratic movement in this neighbouring region must be got rid of," he was quoted as saying.
Key developments in the battle for South Ossetia
· Georgia said its troops were observing a truce and withdrawing from South Ossetia. Russia disputed this
· A Russian airstrike hit Tibilisi international airport
· French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner flew to Tbilisi in a mediation bid. Russian media said French president Nicolas Sarkozy would travel to Moscow this week
· More than 2,000 people had been killed in South Ossetia since Friday, according to Russia. The figure could not be verified
· Up to 20,000 refugees have fled South Ossetia, according to the UN which called for safe passage
· Georgia accused Russia of starting a military operation in Abkhazia. Moscow denied involvement
· The UN security council met for the fourth time in four days
· US President George Bush deplored Russia's "dangerous and disproportionate" actions
· The Pope expressed "profound anguish" over the many innocent victims of the conflict
· This article was amended on Monday September 1 2008. The US UN Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was referred to as Zalid Khalilzad in this piece. This has been corrected.