Thousands of refugees fleeing to Russia

The Georgian adventure, as the Russian puts it, has started taking its toll. Scores of people are fleeing from the scene of heavy fighting in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.
'We're hungry. We spent three days in a bunker with no lights, no gas, no water,' said Marina Toyeva, 32, clutching her eight-year-old son and niece during a stop in the village of Mizur, some 30 km into Russia from the South Ossetian border. 'We have only the clothes on our backs.'
Workers for Russia's migration services passed out sandwiches and water to outstretched hands after flagging the minivan down at one of three checkpoints along the lone road from South Ossetia to Russia.
The war between Russia and Georgia had expanded on Saturday. It added to the flow of refugees from Ossetia, which allied itself with Russia after declaring itself independent from Georgia in the 1990s. Georgia now has sought to maintain control of the territory.
The fiercest battles Saturday were in the South Ossetian city of Tskhinvali, where intense howitzer and tank fire in the vicinity of the town was audible. Shelling intensified in the early afternoon, as Russian reinforcements arriving on the scene went on the counteroffensive.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said that thousands of refugees are likely to make their way across the border into Russia.