2008 South Ossetia war facts for kids

Quick facts for kids 2008 South Ossetia war
Part of Georgian–Ossetian conflict and Georgian–Abkhazian conflict
Location of Georgia (including Abkhazia and South Ossetia) and the Russian part of North Caucasus
Date 7 August 2008 – 16 August 2008 Location South Ossetia, uncontested Georgia, Abkhazia Result Russian/South Ossetian/Abkhazian victory Recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent republics by Nicaragua and the Russian Federation. Expulsion of most ethnic Georgians from former South Ossetia AO and from the Kodori Gorge. Territorial changes Georgia loses control over parts of Abkhazia (25%) and former South Ossetia AO (40%) it previously held.
Belligerents
Georgia	Russia South Ossetia Abkhazia
Commanders and leaders
Mikheil Saakashvili (commander-in-chief) Lado Gurgenidze (Prime minister) Davit Kezerashvili (Defence Minister) Alexandre Lomaia (National Security Council) Zaza Gogava (Chief of Joint Staff) David Nairashvili (Air Force commander) Mamuka Kurashvili (Peacekeepers) Vano Merabishvili (Minister of Internal Affairs)	Dmitry Medvedev (commander-in-chief) Anatoliy Serdyukov (Defence Minister) Vladimir Boldyrev (Ground Forces) Anatoly Khrulyov (58th Army) (WIA) Vyacheslav Borisov (76th Airborne) Marat Kulakhmetov (Peacekeepers) Sulim Yamadayev (Vostok Battalion) Vladimir Shamanov (in Abkhazia) Eduard Kokoity (commander-in-chief) Vasiliy Lunev (Ministry of Defence) Anatoly Barankevich (Ministry of Defence and Emergencies) Sergei Bagapsh (commander-in-chief) Anatoly Zaitsev (Ministry of Defence)
Strength
In South Ossetia: 10,000–12,000 soldiers. Total: 18,000 soldiers, 10,000 reservists. 2,000 soldiers in Iraq at that time, returned short for the end of the conflict 810 Special Police Forces officers.	In South Ossetia: 10,000 soldiers. In Abkhazia: 9,000 soldiers. 2,900 regular soldiers. 5,000 regular soldiers.
Casualties and losses
Georgia: Military 162 killed, 947 wounded, 8 missing, 42 captured Police 11 killed, 3 missing, 227 wounded	Russia: 64 killed, 283 wounded, 3 missing, 12 captured South Ossetia: 150 killed (including volunteers), unknown number of wounded, 41 captured Abkhazia: 1 killed, 2 wounded
Civilian casualties: South Ossetia: 162 according to Russia, 365 civilians and military according to South Ossetia Georgia: 224 civilians killed and 15 missing One foreign civilian killed and 3 wounded Refugees: At least 158,000 civilians displaced (including 30,000 South Ossetians that moved to North Ossetia, Russia; and 56,000 Georgians from Gori, Georgia and 15,000 Georgians from South Ossetia per UNHCR that moved to uncontested Georgia). Estimate by Georgian Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs: at least 230,000.

The 2008 South Ossetia war is a military conflict that started on 8 August 2008, between Georgia, South Ossetian (and Abkhazian) secessionists and Russia.

South Ossetia and Abkhazia are territories within Georgia that declared independence from Georgia and have been acting in a de facto independent capacity since the early 1990s. Neither state has been diplomatically recognised by any member of the United Nations. The conflict began on August 8, 2008, after Georgia claimed South Ossetian separatists had broken a ceasefire by attacking villages, although South Ossetian officials deny that they attacked villages. Georgia launched a military offensive to surround and capture the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali.

Russian military troops entered the war at the side of South Ossetia and won the conflict. Georgia launched the Georgia versus Russia (Hague court application, 2008) in the International Court of Justice.

The war ended on Saturday August 16th, 2008.

Map resources

Videos

Images for kids

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  Fragment of the 1856 map by J. H. Colton, showing the territory of modern South Ossetia within Georgia and Imeria. Modern North Ossetia corresponds to "Ossia" (Ossetia) in the North Caucasus. Ossetia became part of the Mountain ASSR in 1921 and was renamed into North Ossetia only in 1924.

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  U.S. President George W. Bush and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi, May 2005

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  Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2008 Bucharest Summit

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  Russian BMP-2 from the 58th Army in South Ossetia

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  Destroyed Georgian tank in Tskhinvali

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  Nearly-intact Russian missile booster in a Gori house

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  Destroyed apartment houses after air raid of Russian army at Gori, picture taken 10 September 2008.

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  An air raid of the Russian army in August 2008 destroyed this house in Gori

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  Woman crying for help during the bombing of Gori

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  "The Price of Independence", artwork on a residential building damaged by Russian strikes during the war in downtown Gori

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  Russian guided-missile ship 12341 Mirazh (Mirage) in Sevastopol

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  Joint press conference by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and French President Nicolas Sarkozy after negotiations on the plan

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  Georgian police (left) and Russian soldiers evacuating destroyed Russian tank (right) after war of August 2008 (north of Gori, 10 October 2008).

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  Russian forces stayed in South Ossetia after the conflict, including at the Java base (pictured)

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  Sergey Bagapsh (left), Dmitry Medvedev (middle) and Eduard Kokoity (right) shortly after the recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia

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  US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili at a Tbilisi press conference, August 2008

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  Georgian DANA howitzer

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  Russian Tu-22M3