2008 South Ossetia war 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.
Participants
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. 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.