Russian troops have started withdrawing from the city of Gori, Georgia's security council chief said today.
Alexander Lomaia made the announcement at about 4pm local time but it will not be possible for the pledge by the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, to remove all troops by the end of today to be met.
The confirmation of the start of the Russian withdrawal came after Gori's regional governor, Vladimir Vardzelashvili, said 40 Russian military vehicles had left the city, heading north to South Ossetia.
However, a Russian general has warned that it could be 10 days before the bulk of Russian troops have left Georgia.
Their departure from Gori was met with joy among the population. "It's such a relief," said one 68-year-old resident. "I was waiting for this day and finally I see the Russians leaving my home town. I'm so happy."
Gori's position, deep within Georgian territory, made it a strategically important place to hold for the Russians and they had dug in, running checkpoints outside the city and on Georgia's main east-to-west road, which skirts the city.
Earlier, the UN's top official for refugees called for people who had fled the conflict in South Ossetia to be allowed to return home.
In the first visit to Georgia's breakaway province by a senior UN official, the high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, agreed on the principle that all civilians should have the right to return home, a UNHCR statement said.
The UN estimates 158,000 people have been displaced since fighting broke out on August 7 over South Ossetia. About 80,000 displaced people are being housed in more than 600 centres in and around the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
More than $11m (£5.9m) in aid has been flown in, such as prepared meals, blankets, cots, mattresses and portable showers.
Humanitarian aid is getting to Gori, but Henrietta Fore, the head of USAid, said the Russian military must open safe corridors to let aid workers and more supplies get through. Workers did manage to get into Gori yesterday to hand out supplies. "The distribution of food and hygiene kits went well — that is just one day, but it's a step in the right direction," Fore said.
She said USAid's own people must be allowed into the Russian-held area to increase supplies and assess the situation. "We've been calling on the Russians for access," she said, adding there had not been a reply.
In Igoeti, a major checkpoint on the road from Tbilisi to Gori, Russian troops were allowing aid organisations and local traffic through. Red Cross vehicles, mine-clearing jeeps and trucks carrying peaches were seen heading into Gori.
Further west, near a base at the key Black Sea port of Poti, Russian troops were seen digging large trenches by a bridge that provides the only access to the city. Five trucks, several armoured personnel carriers and a helicopter were parked nearby. Another Russian position was seen in woods outside the city.
Lomaia said Russia's control of key roads aimed to "suffocate us economically" and "steer anger among the population, which can be channelled toward the government of this country".
While refugees from the fighting crammed Georgian schools and office buildings in and around Tbilisi, a scattering of people left in deserted villages were badly in need of basics.
"There is no bread, there is no food, no medicine. People are dying," said Nina Meladze, 45, in the village of Nadarbazevi, outside Gori. She stayed while others fled to Tbilisi because she could not leave elderly relatives.
She said the village had been virtually abandoned since the war broke out.
"I cannot go on like this any more, I cry every day," she said.
The UN security council has remained deadlocked over Georgia, unable to agree on a resolution or statement on the crisis, which erupted two weeks ago.
Russia has put a draft resolution before the council endorsing a six-point peace plan brokered by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president.
Western countries say the Russian draft is unacceptable as it does not mention Georgia's territorial integrity or spell out where Russian forces will be deployed in future. Most importantly, the west says, Russia has so far made no substantial withdrawal.
