Has Russia invaded sovereign Georgia?

Turns out the Russians have not gotten into the Olympic spirit. Mccain is calling on Russian forces to immediately return to their territory. Meanwhile, Obama ignored the tenth anniversary of our Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania- and has not put out a statement on the war in the Caucusus.. Georgia 'downs two Russian warplanes' as countries move to brink of war ( Vano Shlamov/AFP/Getty Images) Georgian troops fire rockets at seperatist South Ossetian troops Image :1 of 2 Philippe Naughton and Kevin O'Flynn in Moscow Video: Russia and Georgia 'on brink of war' Georgia claimed today to have downed two Russian warplanes over its territory after the former Soviet neighbours came into direct conflict over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Tbilisi mobilised its army reserves and launched a major military offensive overnight to regain control over the province, raising fears of an all-out war that could draw in Russia. Moscow backs the separatists, most of whom are Russian citizens, and has its own "peackeepers" in South Ossetia. Fighting raged around the city of Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, as Georgian troops backed by tanks and warplanes pounded separatist forces today. At least 15 people were reported to have been killed although the death toll was expected to rise. Georgian officials said this afternoon that a three-hour ceasefire had been declared to allow civilians to leave Tskhinvali and an amnesty had been offered to the separatists. But shortly afterwards, President Saakashvili announced the downing of the two warplanes, suggesting that the conflict had moved into a much more dangerous phase. The Georgian interior ministry had earlier accused Russian of launching a bombing raid injuring seven people. A column of Russian tanks, trucks and troops was on its way through the neighbouring Russian province of North Ossetia towards South Ossetia, an AFP reporter at the scene said. A senior Georgian security official said that heavy military equipment and armoured vehicles were entering South Ossetia through the Roki tunnel from Russia. Mr Saakashvili, who has aligned his country more closely with the West and wants it to join Nato, told a news briefing in Tiblisi: "One hundred and fifty Russian tanks, armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles have entered South Ossetia. This is a clear intrusion on another country’s territory. We have Russian tanks on our territory, jets on our territory in broad daylight." He added: "I must also tell you that Georgian forces have downed two Russian jet fighters over Georgia’s territory." The flare-up presents Dmitri Medvedev, the new Russian President, with the first major crisis. Chairing a meeting of his security council in the Kremlin, he vowed that Moscow would protect its citizens. "In accordance with the constitution and the federal law, I, as president of Russia, am obliged to protect the lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are located," Mr Medvedev said. "We won’t allow the death of our compatriots to go unpunished." His predecessor Vladimir Putin, who is now Prime Minister, was equally direct, warning on a visit to the Olympic Games in Beijing that retaliation was inevitable. South Ossetian officials said that much of Tskhinvali had been destroyed in the Georgian offensive. A Reuters correspondent some two miles from the city said that the roar of warplanes and the explosions of heavy shells was deafening and many houses were ablaze. Mr Saakashvili said that most of South Ossetia was already under the control of Georgian forces but that fighting was continuing in the centre of Tskhinvali. The city was hit by air strikes and shelling throughout the night and missiles continued to batter it this morning. This afternoon, however, the mayor of Tbilisi announced that Georgian authorities had declared a three-hour ceasefire from 1100 to 1400GMT to allow civilians to leave the conflict area. "We are offering amnesty for the separatist militants," Gigi Ugulava told Rustavi-2 television. The area is of strategic importance, largely because of the BTC oil pipeline, which runs through central Georgia just south of the breakaway region. The pipeline - which features in the 1999 James Bond film The World is Not Enough - pumps around one per cent of global crude supplies from the Caspian to the Turkish port of Ceyhan for export to Western Europe but is already closed because of an attack in Turkey last week by the Kurdish separatist organisation PKK. Georgia's Deputy Interior Minister, Eka Sguladze, said that three Russian Su-24 jet bombers flew into Georgia this morning and bombed the town of Gori and the villages of Kareli and Variani, injuring seven people. Russian officials denied any incursion. Both Nato and the White House appealed for an end to the fighting and the International Committee of the Red Cross called for the establishment of a "humanitarian corridor" through South Ossetia. Tensions between Georgia and Russia have been rising over the last few months over the two breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Georgia accuses Russia of fermenting trouble in both regions and supporting the separatist governments as a way to put pressure on Georgia and foil its attempts to join Nato. Russia has given out passports to a majority of South Ossetians and Abkhazians. The UN Security Council met to discuss the situation this morning but failed to agree on a Russian statement calling on both sides to renounce force. The Russian envoy to the UN, Vitaliy Churkin, described Georgia's actions as "treacherous". "The situation in the conflict zone has reached a dramatic line," he told the council. "Civilians, old people and children are under massive artillery shelling from Grad rocket systems, guns and large-calibre mortars." But Lado Gurgendize, the Georgian Prime Minister, said that Tbilisi had been forced to act to "restore peace". He told a Cabinet meeting: "These actions will continue until peace and order will finally be in place in the region."