TSR: "There is definitely a pall of fear hanging over what remains of the Georgian population in that area.


Length: 4:15

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Michael sums up the day's events for Wolf. No evidence of a pullout, and in fact he adds that the incident with the tanks plowing through the police cars was actually an advancing of the Russian lines.



WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to Michael Ware. He's our man on the scene right now. He's watching what is happening on the ground.

Michael, the Pentagon is suggesting they see absolutely no evidence that the Russians are withdrawing their combat forces from Georgia. In fact, they see a digging-in of these Russian troops in Georgia, despite the cease-fire agreement. You're on the scene for us. What are you seeing and hearing?

MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, I spent all day today running around the eastern front of this wall here in Georgia. So, that's essentially the area of Georgia proper, just below South Ossetia.

Now, I will tell you what I saw. In the town of Gori, when I got in there, it's all but vacant of the local population, except for the old and the infirm and a few scant families. Now, what those people were telling me was that, whilst the city remains under Russian domination, there appeared to be less Russian troops than the day before.

However, in other positions around the city that I have personally witnessed, I saw Russian troops digging in literally, either gouging trenches into the hillsides, sandbagging positions, cutting fresh foliage to camouflage armor. And, indeed, the incident that the Georgian president referred to, where Russian armor bashed through a roadblock of Georgian police vehicles, I was there, and I witnessed that.

At the same time, I also had a Russian soldier tell me that he and his men were tired. They didn't want war. They just wanted to go home. Yet, at the same time, oddly, given what the Georgian president says about internment camps, I can't speak to that. I have no evidence of that. But I can tell you, on the front line today, all day, there was discussions of a hostage exchange of some ill-defined nature.

So, it's a very complicated, very foggy picture out there. But I can tell you that, as of dusk, when we left this evening, despite Russian soldiers on the checkpoints saying they had orders that they would be pulling back when the sun went down, as we were leaving the front line, those forces remained in place.

Indeed, the incident involving the police cars was in fact a Russian advance of several kilometers and that the Russians in certain positions had, indeed, been digging in throughout the day -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And we are showing our viewers those pictures, amazing pictures, of a Russian tank simply crushing these Georgian police vehicles, smaller vehicles, as they're going through, as if they're nothing. That's what you were referring to.

But, Michael, the charge -- and it's a very serious charge -- made by President Saakashvili that the Russians are engaged in -- quote -- "ethnic cleansing," have you seen any evidence to back that up?

WARE: No, I haven't yet, Wolf. And I'm not sure that any has yet emerged.

I can tell you, though, that the entire area is virtually evacuated of Georgians. Now, obviously, tens upon tens upon tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians fled the region in the face of not only the advance of the Russian army, but in the face of the activities of South Ossetian irregulars or paramilitaries. Now, they're the ones that the locals fear most. They're the ones that the locals claim have been the most brutal. Now, so we do know that there's definitely a pall of fear hanging over what remains of the Georgian population in that area, that, as I said, the area has been evacuated through flight or some other means or reason, and that the Russian troops remain there, and that there's a lot of questions yet to be answered -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Michael Ware, be careful over there. Good to have you on the scene for all of us here at CNN.

Michael Ware is in Georgia.

Let's go to Jack. He's got "The Cafferty File."

I don't know about you, Jack, but I think I and all of our viewers are happy that Michael Ware -- I don't know if he's happy, but we're happy that he's watching this story for us.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, he's pretty good at that stuff.