Georgia has pulled out of a 1994 United Nations agreement that ended the war in the separatist region of Abkhazia, a Georgian cabinet minister said today.

Russia battled Georgian forces on land and sea, reports said today, despite a Georgian ceasefire offer and its claim to be withdrawing from South Ossetia, the separatist province ravaged by days of intense fighting.

Russia tonight claimed it had sunk a Georgian missile boat that was trying to attack its ships in the Black Sea, news agencies reported.

Georgian troops today pulled out of the capital of the breakaway province of South Ossetia under massive Russian shelling.