Georgia in crisis

Life in western Georgia continues as normal despite a Russian occupation of the region. Unlike Gori in the central part of the country, there is relatively minor damage to the western half of the country near the Abkhazi border.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A group of men chats outside in Abkhazia, western Georgia, which has relatively minor damage compared with Gori.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A Russian soldier peers over the wall of a Georgian military base that the Russians are occupying in western Georgia.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

An elderly woman carries firewood through the ruined streets of Gori as wary residents began to emerge from their homes and inspect the damage to the city and look for aid and food. Russian troops remained entrenched in and around the central Georgian city, and were stationed at all points of entry. But Moscow announced that it would begin pulling its troops back on Monday.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A resident of Gori describes the Russian bombing campaign that devastated her neighborhood. Russian forces remained entrenched in the city and had set up strategic posts along Georgia’s main road.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A child ventures out in Gori, wearing tank googles given to him by a Russian soldier in an armored personnel carrier.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

The northern neighborhoods of Gori were damaged heavily in Russian bombing of Georgia, residents say. This woman said three people were still buried in the ruins of the apartment block behind her.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Residents rifle around the main government building on Gori’s Stalin Square, hoping to find some relief supplies.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

The Republican Hospital’s intensive care unit, where both civilians and soldiers are being treated, in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Stalin Square, in the heart of Gori, is seen in bullet-scarred windows. Residents began making their way out onto the streets as fighting in the area ebbed, despite a Russian military presence.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

A Russian armored personnel carrier makes its way down the principal boulevard in Gori, Russia has said it will pull troops beginning Monday, but not how fast or far back they will retreat.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Family photographs are left in the rubble of a ruined apartment block near the eastern edge of Gori. Russia’s withdrawal announcement made no mention of its intentions in Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

At a Tbilisi hospital, X-rays of a father and son from Gori show bullets lodged in their bodies. Though fighting has stopped a small number of injured persons are still arriving at the hospital in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

An apartment block in Gori lies abandoned and ruined after being hammered by Russian military fire.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)