City of Ghosts, Bombing of Gori, and Georgian Villages: Carnage, Death and Destruction

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori

Life can only be experienced from 10:00 AM to 6:00 Pm in the abandoned city of Gori. Russian soldiers are strolling along the streets in Gori in the morning and in the evenings. People, who holed up in the basements of residential flats are jittery and react on the smallest noise, even a mouse.  During the day you can see an elderly woman or man hurriedly going home.  Regardless that the Russian occupants have not do anything harmful to innocent civilians during recent few days, people are still not content see Russian soldiers in Gori.

The only Georgian military base that survived Russian bombing unscathed was Uplistsikhe. Locals are surprised how they Russians did not target or bomb it. On August 9 at 4:00 AM military police woke up the whole village of Uplistsikhe. They were instructed to immediately “Leave the village … as the territory might be bombed at any minute” - the soldiers were shouting out with megaphones.

Women and men, children and people of all ages quickly rushed to the gardens located just outside the village; they even switched off the lights so that they would not be easy targets.  They switched off everything that was burning so not to attract attention of Russian planes. That night was terrible for the residents of Uplistsikhe. People were running about in all directions and not knowing where best to flee. The vast majority of them ended up spending the night in open fields. Luckily for everybody the anticipated planes did not appear over the village with their deadly payloads.

Regardless, the incident did not end without tragedy. The hostess of the Gabnashvilis family suffered a fatal heart attack from the ordeal.

The village was soon a ghost town and almost completely emptied of its former inhabits. There were only a few neighbors left to pay last respects and to attend the funeral of Natela Gabinashvili. Initially they called patrol police and learned that road to Uplistsikhe was blocked and they were unable to arrive to the village to lend any assistance. The next option was to call emergency medical services at 03. However, this hope was also lost when it was leaned from the dispatcher that all ambulances were out on emergency runs.  Meanwhile, a soldier’s mother died without having learned that her son was still alive.

That night, press-conference of the Russian Foreign Minister, Lavrov was transmitted on National TV and he mentioned the village of Uplistsikhe in his statement.

However, during a press conference journalists reminded the minister that the Russian air force had blatantly bombed villages that were inhabited by civilians. They then asked how Russian troops could possibly claim to be peacekeepers after having carried out such a criminal act.

The Russian Foreign Minister replied: “We destroyed military bases with the exception of two: one in Skra and another in Uplistsikhe, as we understood from our reconnaissance that civilians lived in close proximity.”

Experts claim that Russians intentionally did not bomb Uplistsikhe base only to demonstrate to the world that they did not carryout bombing raid on targets that were populated by non-combatants. Regardless of the claim, it is now clear that Russian troops did not enter Uplistsikhe. Just the opposite, police from the Russian Military even arrested several criminals who were found looting the military base.

Residents of Uplistsikhe and other villages in the area arrived in Kaspi via the villages of Kvakhvreli and Doesi. On August 10 Russian planes carried out bombing raids on Kaspi. The villages in the district were terrible to look at after being bombed. Locals did not know where to run, and part of them took to the woods to find sheltered the woods others left for Tbilisi early the next morning.

There are two ways to Gori from Tbilisi; one of them is central highway and it is occupied by Russian troops. Another one is roundabout via the valley of the River Mtkvari along the railway line via Kaspi. After Russians locked down the central highway the IDPs took the roundabout to get out of the region and seek safe haven.

Kaspi population panicked when seeing the vast number of IDPs. When Georgian soldiers were leaving their checkpoints after one another and were leaving for the capital, the people fleeing from the villages confused Georgian tanks with having sighted Russian tanks and the rumors circulated like wildfire. Claims were being made that the Russians were in hot pursuit of the peaceful civilians, and it was only natural under such conditions that noncombatants quickly panicked.

The lack of up-to-date information only increased the level of the dread. Russians blasted the TV Tower in Gori and Georgian channels went on the air the Shida Kartli region. People were unable to access any reliable information about the location of Russian troops. Later, residents of the village of Kvakhvreli started controlling the hill of Zedavela from where they could view the road from Gori, and if movements of Russian troops were detected, they would have been able to quickly inform the villagers; the spotters succeeded in their quick thinking the panic ended and the stress level diminished.

The village spent the next two nights in peace. However, on the morning of the third people saw a colony of Russian tanks moving from Kaspi in their direction. They noticed Kakha Lomaia, Secretary of the Security Council of Georgia, in the column. His physical presence calmed the locals down a bit. Several tanks took their positions on the Kvernaki hill in the suburbs of Gori. Consequently the area from Mtkvari Valley to Kaspi was now effectively under the control of forces of the Russian Federation.

Russian tanks took control of the situation from the high ground. And as soon as they would detect something suspicious or out of the ordinary they would resume the bombing of Georgian villages.

Russian troops encountered Georgian livestock producers on the Kvernaki hill. There meeting became so close and relaxed with one another that later they ate together. In spite of all that had transpired and after a few days sitting down eating together, they were even singing and dancing. On the first day, however, the Russians demanded milk. Next day, Sadagashvili a dairy farmer they milk.  On the following day Russians demanded sausages and can foods. They gave money to the villages to go and buy food and supplies for them. The next morning they returned with all that they requested. 

On August 9 children of 11 years of age were playing football in settlement of Kombinati in Gori. Suddenly at 11:00 AM they heard the roar of approaching aircraft. It was the sound similar to the same one they had heard the day before and within minutes there was an explosion and the settlement went up in plume of smoke.

“Children were tossed back against the fence of the football field. Others were thrown out of the windows of the apartment blocks. There were wounded crying… it was a terrible view…” as one couple running from the Kombinati settlement told, and they had just been given a lift by a strange car as far as Uplistsikhe.

At that moment I was in Tsmindatskali settlement in Gori. Giorgi Molodini, a correspondent of the TV Company “Imedi” was with me at the time. As soon as I heard the aircraft I advised my colleagues to lie down, as it made no sense for them to run.

Residents of the village of Kekhvi were standing near the hospital. “My sister’s body is here. Yesterday we were coming from the valley through roundabouts and they opened started shooting at us. Dead bodies are lying everywhere and nobody even took notice of their existence. We want to embalm my girl so we could take her home,” as the woman was crying in the heat of the day.

At that moment they heard the aircrafts and bombs were dropped on the Kombinati settlement.

Women were hiding behind trees and buildings. Following explosion we then headed to the center, and within 10 minutes there was yet another explosion. It was as if something had fallen down on all of us and when we looked up there was smoke was coming from five different places, and the largest plume was the one in the middle of the explosions.

We thought that they must have bombed a unit of tanks,

August 9, I found myself in the middle of Kombinati and Verkhvebi settlements of Gori during the aerial bombing. At that moment we approached the media-center and journalists went in the direction of the Verkhvebi settlement. Those who remained in Kombinati ran towards Verkhvebi too; there was smoke everywhere and multi-storied flats were ablaze.

The media center located in the office of the TV Company Trialeti was not functioning. The vast majority of the journalists had to leave the city to escape the heavy bombing raids. They were very insecure as they did not have even the most basic of protective gear, such as protective flack jackets (vests) or any other safety gear to work under such a battle situation. Since the events of this day Gori has been transformed into a ghost town...

I call it road though it is actually not a road...

When first military operations started on August 6-7 the Georgian villages of Nikozi and Eredvi were full of civilians. Nobody could imagine that within two days there were be many of Russian tanks roaming the areas, with aircrafts overhead bombing and destroying these unproductive villages.

“Go ahead boys, go ahead... kick the separatists out...” as the locals residents encouraged on the Georgian soldiers. On August 9 Russian aircrafts started bombing Tskhinvali, as it had been freed of separatists by advancing Georgian troops. 

“Georgian army changes its positions,” was reported by the sources from Tbilisi. Gori hospital was inundated with a large number of wounded soldiers. Georgian soldiers continued to be called as replacements from Tbilisi. Then the Russians took the offensive and started hunting down the Georgian soldiers.

There was no choice now, and the Russian president had declared a ceasefire after Gori already bombed three times, and the Russian had even dropped bombs on the city center. As a result of the last raids carried out civilians, a child and journalists were to be counted among the dead.

Most of those who live in the villages in Gori district have since left their homes as IDPs. Only elderly people or men who are left behind to guard their houses remain; women and children have all fled and are now seeking a place of safety

On August 8 at 10:00 AM Vakhtang Chankotadze, a scientist was looking after wounded people who had been delivered to the grounds of the Gori hospital. He was seeking out familiar faces as he was looking for his own son. As now his efforts have not been successful, many times he cold be heard asking “have you heard anything about Devi Chankotadze, the commander of Gori Artillery Battalion.” 

We came across field hospitals in several areas, and they were mobile and changed their location several times a day.

These units are staffed by those who found and evacuated both wounded and dead soldiers during the military operations in Tskhinvali and its nearby surroundings. The members of the medical unit will never forget the burned villages and towns; dead bodies scattered about the streets; and that many wounded soldiers had been capture by the enemy.

We came across this one unit at the approach to Gori; though they asked not to give away their location as they were trying to be concealed from Russian aircrafts and they had already been successful for a long time.

“Russians are searching for soldiers and Georgian military equipment. So, as we are in uniforms they want to neutralize us too,” said medical staff of the army field hospital.

“I come from the village of Eredvi...  All what I have left are the clothes on my back and nothing more.  We hardly escaped the bombing and I was able to get my wife and children to Kaspi. I then went to my village by foot and was shocked by what I saw. At the moment Russian troops are deployed there. There are dead bodies scattered everywhere in the street; there is nobody left who can bury them,” said Ramaz Beruashvili, who works as a driver for the military field hospital.

Eredvi is the village in Patar Liakhvi valley; it has been involved in fighting against Ossetian separatists the last 16 years already. Ramaz Beruashvili is sorry that the locals were not able to defend the village to the end. However, he told that they had put up a good fight to the end but Russians have now occupied it by force.

The village now is completely destroyed and lies in ruins; “The population was able to hold on and defend the village from both the South Ossetians and Russians. Nobody will be able to live there as a result of the death and destruction. Houses have been burned and destroyed.  How could they bomb inhabited areas?” asked Ramaz Beruashvili.

Soldier G. Kiria, whom we met in front of the military hospital, said that they had made a serious mistake by not having first evacuated locals from the villages within the conflict zone.

“Our people could not imagine such a war in their worst dreams... The Russian higher command has made a tragic example of the Georgian people. In front of me women and children were blow to bits. People were so confused by what was happening that they could not even remember the first rule during a bombing - to lie down on the ground.  Many could have survived if they had remembered and not try to run. For example I survived three separate bombing raids since I was lying down. However, civilians did not know that. I will never forget those terrible minutes, the pictures of the carnage that I have seen,” said the soldier who fought in the battle for Eredvi.

As for the medical personnel working in the field hospital on August 11, on the last day of the military operations, they found safe sheltered the historical monument of Uplistsikhe. Employees of the monument prepared even hot water for them. They say that soldiers of the military unit # 4 were very brave. Russians almost completely wiped out destroyed that unit to the last man. They also told that only a few survivors could be found from the Vaziani and Kojori units.

“Besides that first line of causalities, we had to visit go about visiting other villages as well to provide assistance. It was impossible to go everywhere as there were just too many killed and wounded, there were so many! Ambulances could not reach every place in time. A bomb was dropped in the middle of the village of Karbi and 15 people had gathered at one location and they were blown to bits. The village of Nikozi is completely destroyed. There are still many corpses and they have not been recovered,” told one military nurse, Marika G.

Tkviavi, Variani, Shindisi, Phkhvenisi and Khviti Villages Bombed.