Georgia said on Sunday that it was pulling its troops out of the separatist province of South Ossetia, but its appeals for a ceasefire in the widening conflict in the Caucasus failed to halt Russia’s mounting military response.

As the focus of the fighting widened from South Ossetia to Abkhazia, another separatist region within Georgia, Russian aircraft were reported to have struck at targets inside Georgia, including the civilian airport in the capital Tbilisi.