Russian and South Ossetian forces fought Georgian forces in and around South Ossetia for several days, until Georgian forces retreated. It launched a full-scale land, air and sea invasion of Georgia, including its undisputed territory, on 8 August, referring to it as a ' peace enforcement' operation. Russia falsely accused Georgia of committing ' genocide' and 'aggression against South Ossetia'. Some Russian troops had illicitly crossed the Georgia–Russia border through the Roki Tunnel and advanced into the South Ossetian conflict zone by 7 August before the Georgian military response.

To put an end to these attacks, Georgian army units were sent into the South Ossetian conflict zone on 7 August and took control of most of Tskhinvali, a separatist stronghold, within hours. Intensifying artillery attacks by the South Ossetian separtists broke a 1992 ceasefire agreement. On 1 August 2008, the Russian-backed South Ossetian forces started shelling Georgian villages, with a sporadic response from Georgian peacekeepers in the area. Following the election of Vladimir Putin in Russia in 2000 and a pro-Western change of power in Georgia in 2003, relations between Russia and Georgia began to deteriorate, reaching a full diplomatic crisis by April 2008, when NATO promised to consider Georgia's bid for membership. A similar stalemate developed in the region of Abkhazia, where Abkhaz separatists had waged a war in 1992–1993. In 1992, a joint peacekeeping force of Georgian, Russian, and Ossetian troops was stationed in the territory. Amid this backdrop, fighting between Georgia and separatists left parts of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast under the de facto control of Russian-backed but internationally unrecognised separatists. The Republic of Georgia declared its independence in early 1991 as the Soviet Union began to fall apart.

It is regarded as the first European war of the 21st century. The fighting took place in the strategically important South Caucasus region. The war took place in August following a diplomatic crisis between Russia and Georgia, both formerly constituent republics of the Soviet Union. The 2008 Russo-Georgian War was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on the other.

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