Russian armored vehicles rolled deep into central and western Georgia on Monday, quickly taking control of a key city, several towns and a military base, according to Georgian officials and witnesses. Georgia's president said Russian troops had effectively sliced his country in half, AP reported. Fighting also raged Monday around Tskhinvali, the capital of the separatist province of South Ossetia. Swarms of Russian warplanes launched new air raids across Georgia, with at least one sending screaming civilians running for cover. The reported capture of the key Georgian city of Gori and the towns of Senaki, Zugdidi and Kurga came despite a top Russian general's claim earlier Monday that Russia had no plans to enter Georgian territory. By taking Gori, which sits on Georgia's only east-west highway, Russia can cut off eastern Georgia from the country's western Black Sea coast. «(Russian forces) came to the central route and cut off connections between western and eastern Georgia,» Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili told a national security meeting.
