A howitzer flying a Russian flag rumbled past, followed by dusty T-62 and T-72 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, missiles and mobile pontoon bridges on the mountain pass leading to the Roki Tunnel, which connects Russia to South Ossetia.

"I don't know what to expect. Some say there's still shooting going on. Others say there isn't. I just don't know," said the 23-year-old commander of a T-72 tank from the Russian city of Samara, who declined to give his name.

An AFP reporter saw hundreds of Russian soldiers entering South Ossetia, joining the thousands who have poured in to quash an offensive by Georgian troops on the separatist province.

Soldiers estimated Russia's military had about 30,000 men on Georgian territory, although there was no official confirmation.

Ambulances and lorries carrying assault rifles and ammunition also rolled past, kicking up clouds of dust.

The convoy drove past the remains of ancient watchtowers that have surveyed the forested mountain passes for centuries.

Lining the road were monuments to Soviet military endeavours in World War II, as well as statues of national heroes and saints.

More prosaically, empty bottles of vodka lay on the tables of makeshift cafes.

Some of the soldiers bathed in the Ardon River that runs through the gorge. Others repaired broken trucks.

"I've never seen anything like this since I served in the army," said Vladimir Grigoryan, a local taxi driver who once served in the Soviet army in the former East Germany.

Meanwhile other ambulances and buses laden with hundreds of refugees drove in the other direction out of South Ossetia, heading to an assembly point some 80 kilometres (50 miles) inside the Russian border, where they were then assigned temporary accommodation.

Bearded volunteer militiamen in grimy cars peppered with bullet holes and shrapnel damage also drove back. Their cars had white ribbons streaming from the wing mirrors, a sign for Russian troops not to shoot at them.

Some of the refugees stopped at the first food stands on the Russian side of the border -- doing a brisk business.

Many refugees had not eaten for days after the start of combat operations on Thursday blew out water, gas and electricity and cut food supplies in South Ossetia.

Among all the cars some had the windows smashed out, while many of their occupants were bleary-eyed.

A white Lada stood parked by the side of the road, its driver sprawled on the grass. The windshield had one word written on it in the dirt: "VICTORY."

related report
Russia takes Georgian city as conflict worsens
Advancing Russian forces on Monday took a key Georgian city and the country's armed forces retrenched to defend the capital, a top Georgian official said.

Russian troops occupied Gori, close to the breakaway region of South Ossetia, Georgia's National Security Council secretary Alexander Lomaia told AFP amid growing international calls for a halt to the fighting which has left hundreds reported dead and forced tens of thousands out of their homes.

"Georgian armed forces received an order to leave Gori and to fortify positions near Mtskheta to defend the capital," said Lomaia. "This is a total onslaught." Mtskheta is 24 kilometres (15 miles) from Tbilisi.

The UN refugee agency said earlier that 80 percent of the 50,000 population of Gori had fled the city because of Russian attacks. Georgian officials said that Russian jets had earlier bombed the city.

Russian forces also carried out military operations around the western city of Senaki to prevent Georgian troops from regrouping and heading back into South Ossetia -- the cause of the worsening Russia-Georgia conflict, news agencies reported quoting the Russian defence ministry.

A Russian military spokesman said 9,000 troops and more than 350 armoured vehicles would be deployed to bolster forces inside the second Georgian separatist region of Abhkazia.

Russia and Georgia traded accusations that each was launching attacks, while aid agencies warned of a mounting humanitarian crisis, heightening urgency to international efforts to secure a halt to the fighting.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Finland's Alexander Stubb were to put a peace plan to Russian leaders on Tuesday having persuaded Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili to sign up for the European Union plan, a senior Georgian official told AFP.

But diplomatic tensions between Russia and the United States held up efforts to pass a UN Security Council call for an end to the fighting over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

The Georgian foreign ministry said more than 50 Russian warplanes had flown over Georgian territory. "Tbilisi was bombed. Bombs hit the village of Kojori and Makhata mountain," it said.

The South Ossetian separatist government said Georgia had resumed an artillery bombardment of its capital, Tskhinvali, where residents have reported many deaths.

As fighting intensified, US President George W. Bush, Georgia's biggest western ally, said he told Russia's prime minister that Russia's bombing of Georgia was "unacceptable."

"I expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia and that we strongly condemn bombing outside of South Ossetia," the US president told NBC television from Beijing.

Putin responded by accusing the United States of trying to disrupt the Russian military operation by transporting Georgian troops from Iraq into the "conflict zone."

"It seems that this will not change anything, but will move us away from resolving the situation," said Putin.

Putin compared the actions of Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili to war crimes perpetrated by deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Russia's military acknowledged it had lost 18 soldiers and four planes in the conflict but gave no details of its latest operations.

Saakashvili told foreign reporters several hundred Russian servicemen had been killed and 18 or 19 Russian aircraft shot down.

The EU plan he signed up to calls for a ceasefire, medical help for victims, controlled withdrawals of troops on both sides and eventual political talks.

On Tuesday, Kouchner and Stubb will meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said Stubb, current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will go to Georgia on Tuesday, Saakashvili told journalists. Sarkozy is also due in Moscow to try to hammer out a ceasefire, Kouchner said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov Monday dismissed the EU efforts.

"It's not a ceasefire agreement," Ivanov told CNN television. A "ceasefire agreement is signed by two sides when they meet," he said, adding first "we need a written agreement between Georgia on one side, South Ossetia and Abkhazia .. that they will never use force in the future."

In Washington, foreign ministers from the Group of Seven western industrial powers countries urged Russia to accept an Georgia's ceasefire offer in a telephone conference call, a US State Department official said.

But Moscow had launched its own diplomatic campaign. In Brussels, Russia's Ambassador to NATO called on the alliance to hold an extraordinary Russia-NATO council Tuesday before taking any decision on Georgia.

Medvedev said he would like an OSCE mission deployed in South Ossetia, the Kremlin said.

Russia sent thousands of troops, tanks and air support into South Ossetia on Friday after Georgia launched an offensive to seize control of the province, which broke from Georgia in the early 1990s.

At the UN Security Council, experts discussed efforts to agree a ceasefire call in Georgia after the United States and Russia traded barbs in Cold War-style exchanges.

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