Nine years have passed since the Russo-Georgian War of August 2008. Civil.ge uses its archives and other sources to provide a daily recap of the events of the war. We start on August 1, 2008, amid the final stage of pre-war escalation, and will continue up to the occupation of Akhalgori Municipality by the Russian troops on August 16.

August 12:

• Russian air force continues bombing campaign during the night.
   
• At 09:30 Russian air force bombs Gori.
   
• Russian forces bomb the central square of the town of Gori with an Iskander-M/SS-26 missile, killing eight civilians and injuring 15.
   
• At 12:40 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announces that he has ordered to end the military operation in Georgia. The Russian forces, however, continue their advance in both eastern and western Georgia, beyond Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia.
   
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili “must stand down.”
   
• At 14:00 Russian air force bombs villages in Kaspi and Khashuri districts.
   
• Russian-backed Tskhinvali militia start a campaign of ethnic cleansing in the Georgian villages captured by the Russian forces.
   
• Tens of thousands of Tbilisi residents gather at a rally against the Russian invasion.
   
• A Russian attack helicopter opens fire at a civilian minibus on the main highway near Gori, which is transporting passengers from western Georgia to Tbilisi, killing nine civilians.
   
• Russian troops cut the main highway between eastern and western Georgia in the Gori city area.
   
• At 16:30 Russian troops capture TV and radio transmitter station in village Akhaldaba, Gori District, destroying its equipment, killing one employee and wounding two.
   
• Georgia announces it is quitting the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) – a Russian-led organization established in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union.
   
• At 17:30 Russian-backed Abkhaz forces occupy village Ganmukhuri, Zugdidi District and organize a checkpoint there.
   
• Russian troops in the Poti port destroy Georgian military and patrol vessels.
   
• Russian-backed Abkhaz forces capture Kodori Valley.
   
• By 19:00 a Russian military column reaches Khaishi village in western Georgia, blocking the road from Kodori Valley.
   
• Presidents of Estonia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, as well as the Prime Minister of Latvia, arrive in Tbilisi to demonstrate their nations’ solidarity with Georgia and decrease the chance of a Russian attack on the Georgian capital by their physical presence there.
   
• After negotiating with the Russian leadership in Moscow, French President Nicholas Sarkozy arrives in Tbilisi with a ceasefire draft. Following Sarkozy’s negotiation with the Georgian leadership, amendments are made into the six-point ceasefire agreement text with the consent of Moscow.