Full timeline • March 6: Russia withdraws from the 1996 CIS Treaty on Abkhazia Sanctions, triggering condemnations by Georgia and concerns about illegal military trade between Moscow and Sokhumi. • March 14: Abkhazian separatist authorities reject any conflict resolution negotiation with Tbilisi and demands the withdrawal of Georgian troops from the Kodori Gorge. • '''March 18: Abkhazian separatists claim shooting down a Georgian UAV over the village of Primorskoe, near the Georgian-populated region of Gali. Tbilisi denies the drone's shootdown but confirms its reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia. Moscow condemns what it calls a violation of the 1994 Ceasefire Agreement.''' • March 20: The
People's Assembly of Abkhazia issues a statement condemning "systematic flights of Georgian aircraft over Abkhaz airspace for reconnaissance purposes" as proof that Tbilisi is "taking a course towards preparation for another military invasion of the Republic of Abkhazia." • March 21: The
State Duma passes a resolution calling on the Kremlin "to consider the expediency of recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia" and to review the feasibility of increasing the Russian peacekeeping force in Abkhazia. • March 26:
PACE Co-Rapporters on Georgia
Matyas Erosi and
Kastriot Islami visit Georgia among other things to discuss "recent developments in relation to Abkhazia and South Ossetia." • March 28: Mikheil Saakashvili unveils a new peace plan for Abkhazia, including a joint Georgian-Abkhaz Free Economic Zone in Ochamchire and Gali, the creation of the post of Vice-President of Georgia to be allocated to a representative of Abkhazia with the right to veto all decisions by the central government on its constitutional status, specific security guarantees, and "unlimited autonomy." The proposal is immediately rejected by Sokhumi. • April 3: In a letter to Abkhazia's Sergei Baghapsh and South Ossetia's
Eduard Kokoity, Vladimir Putin writes that "Russia can not ignore Tbilisi’s line directed towards destabilization of the situation, including through use of intimidation and force – including through appealing to non-regional states." • April 4: NATO Bucharest Summit Declaration, pledging the future NATO accession of Georgia and Ukraine, but refusing to grant either a Membership Action Plan. • April 15: The
UN Security Council adopts Resolution 1808, extending UNOMIG's mandate till October and calling for the return of Georgian IDPs to Abkhazia. • April 17: Putin signs an executive order establishing direct diplomatic ties between Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The decree leads to widespread condemnation by Georgia and its international partners. • '''April 20: Georgian UAV is shot down over the village of Gagida in the Gali district. Tbilisi acknowledges the loss of a drone and blames Russia, releasing footage showing a Russian aircraft shooting an air-to-air missiles at the UAV. Both Russia and Abkhazia deny Moscow's involvement, instead alleging the drone was brought down by the Abkhaz Armed Forces. A later UN investigation confirms Georgia's accusation against Russia, while Russia accuses Georgia of violating the 1994 Ceasefire Agreement.''' • April 21: Mikheil Saakashvili and Vladimir Putin hold a phone conversation described as "not easy". During the discussion, Saakashvili calls on Russia to "stop attacks on Georgia", while Putin "expressed bewilderment" over the UAV flights. • April 22:
U.S. State Secretary
Condolezza Rice and her Russian counterpart
Sergei Lavrov meet in
Kuwait and talk about the drone shoot down in Abkhazia. • April 23: UN Security Council session is held at the request of Georgia to discuss the drone downing. The US, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany issue a joint call expressing their concern over Russia's move to establish ties with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. • April 24: In a televised national address, President Saakashvili announces seeking to replace Russian peacekeepers in Abkhazia with an international mission. The number of Russian forces stationed in Abkhazia increases from 2,000 to 2,540. The Kremlin uses the Georgian drone flights to justify the need for more peacekeepers. • April 29: Moscow announces an increase in Russian peacekeeping troops after accusing Georgia of increasing its own military presence in the Kodori Gorge. • April 30: • Separatist leaders Sergei Baghapsh and Eduard Kokoity reject the Georgian proposal to form a confederacy with Abkhazia and South Ossetia. • The
OSCE Permanent Council holds an emergency session over the April 20 drone incidents. A special Forum for Security Cooperation is called by the Finnish Presidency, which endorses the UN-led investigative effort. • The NATO and Russian Ambassadors meet in
Brussels over the Abkhazia crisis. • The People's Assembly of Abkhazia calls on the Abkhaz separatists leadership to withdraw from the Geneva Process, a format of negotiations between Tbilisi and Sokhumi mediated by France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the US. • Secretary General
Terry Davis of the
Council of Europe call on Georgia and Russia to "do everything in their power to prevent any further deterioration of the situation with negative consequences for the local population and stability in the region." • May 3: Saakashvili used the term "occupation" to describe Russia's military presence in Abkhazia for the first time. •
May 4: '''Abkhaz separatists allege shooting down another two Georgian drones flying over the Gali district. Georgia denies the claim, but Russia backs Sokhumi's allegations. Instead, Tbilisi recognizes the extent of its drone program and pledges to continue flying UAVs over Abkhazia.''' • May 5: • Sokhumi claims detecting another Georgian UAV flying over the Ochamchire district, but claims having willingly not shot it down. • Georgia withdraws from the 1995 Agreement on the Creation of the Integrated Air Defense System of CIS Member States, urging the United Nations to investigate the presence and use of air defense systems by separatist authorities in Abkhazia. • May 6: The
White House formally backs Georgia in its claim that Russia downed the Georgian UAV on April 20. •
May 8: Abkhazia claims having shot down a fifth Georgian UAV, a claim denied again by Tbilisi. According to Sokhumi, the drone carried an air-to-air missiles, though Georgian military equipment did not include missile-carrying drones. •
May 12: •
Abkhazia announces having shot down an additional two Georgian drones, one of which is confirmed by Tbilisi. These are the last drone shootdown allegations made by Abkhazia before the launch of the Russia-Georgia War. •
George W. Bush speaks to his new Russian counterpart
Dmitry Medvedev in their first phone conversation after the latter's inauguration. They speak extensively about the Abkhazia crisis. • Georgia's UN Ambassador
Irakli Alasania visits Sokhumi and meets with separatist officials to seek a negotiated conflict settlement. • Tbilisi releases drone footage claiming to prove Russian troop and military hardware deployment in Abkhazia. • President Saakashvili calls on the European Union to launch a formal investigation on the Russian use of force to down Georgian drones over Georgian recognized airspace. • May 15: The
UN General Assembly votes in favor of a Georgia-sponsored resolution calling for the return of IDPs to Abkhazia. • May 26: The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia publishes its final investigative report on April 20 drone shootdown, confirming Georgia's accusations that a Russian military jet downed the aircraft. Georgia demands an official apology and compensation from the Russian Federation. • May 30: Georgia announces the suspension of its done flights over Abkhazia during a UN Security Council meeting. • May 31: In an interview with
Le Monde, Vladimir Putin hints that Georgia's use of reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia is meant to prepare for an invasion of the separatist region. • June 1: In a note of protest sent by the Georgian delegation at the OSCE to its Russian counterpart, Tbilisi recognizes having lost a total of three drones during the crisis, including with the use of Buk anti-missile systems. • July 1: Using the Georgian UAV flights over Abkhazia as a reason, Russia proposes the installation of radar stations in South Ossetia.
March 18 Primorskoe shootdown On March 18, 2008,
Stanislav Lakoba, Secretary of the
Security Council of the Republic of Abkhazia, announced to local press that a reconnaissance aircraft had been shot down at 12:05 over the village of Primorskoe, near the administrative boundary between the Ochamchire and Gali districts. Abkhaz officials claimed having shot down the UAV with an
Aero L-39 Albatros, while a later analysis of radar records by the UN Observer Mission in Georgia confirmed a drone was shot down at an altitude of 4,500 m. The drone, identified by separatist military officials as an Elbit Hermes 450 (Serial Number 551), allegedly fell into the
Black Sea, while debris was said to have been recuperated by the evening. Said debris was exhibited to local journalists in Sokhumi. The Georgian Ministry of Defense immediately denied the incident, while admitting nonetheless the conduct of reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia to track Russian military movements in the region. A latter UNOMIG investigation confirmed nonetheless the downing of a drone, with eyewitnesses in the Gali village of Nabakevi talking about hearing an explosion, while it estimated that the aircraft's maximum range was "consistent with Georgian ownership". Abkhaz
de facto Deputy Defense Minister Gari Kupalba alleged that the downed drone had been performing reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia since the summer of 2007. UNOMIG called the flying of Georgian reconnaissance flights over Abkhazia a violation of the 1994 Moscow Ceasefire Agreement, leading Abkhaz President Sergei Baghapsh to warn the central Georgian government about the "inadmissibility of reconnaissance activities." On March 20, the People's Assembly of Abkhazia issued a declaration warning about Tbilisi's course "towards preparation for another military invasion of the Republic of Abkhazia," calling the UAV flights a "provocative action", and calling on Russia, the United Nations Secretary General, and the Group of Friends of Georgia (made of Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the United States) to "take appropriate measures to prevent a new war in the
Caucasus." On April 14, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the
Ministry of Defense of Russia issued a note of concern to the
Security Council of Russia about Georgian alleged violations of the 1994 Moscow Agreement with the drone flights. On April 15, Russia's UN Ambassador
Vitaly Churkin talked about the "new phenomenon of overflight jets in the security zone" and criticized the "build-up of the Georgian military" as evidenced by a "recently shot-down drone in the airspace of the security zone."
April 20 Gagida shootdown At 09:57 on April 20, an Elbit Hermes 450 UAV (Serial Number 553) belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia was shot down over the village of Gagida in the Gali district of Abkhazia, while at an altitude of 6,000 m. Eyewitnesses described two loud explosions, an object departing from an aircraft, ignition in the air, and debris parachuting into the Black Sea, around 250 m from the Abkhaz shoreline, before the same aircraft gained height and flew north. Locals in the Abkhaz village of Dikhagudzba described having noticed a southbound aircraft traveling over the Black Sea at some point between 09:30 and 10:00. CIS peacekeepers reported having identified the drone at an altitude of 3,000 m over the towns of
Anaklia and Pichori, before witnessing its explosion about 1 km northwest of Pichori. The first to report on the drone shootdown was Georgian news network
Mze TV, which reported that the events had been confirmed by State Reintegration Minister
Temur Iakobashvili. Other Georgian news agencies reported eyewitness accounts from the Abkhaz village of Primorskoe (where the first drone was allegedly shot down) of a military jet and an airborne explosion. The Georgian Ministry of Defense immediately denied having lost a UAV over Abkhazia, while Iakobashvili retracted his earlier comments and claimed it was impossible to confirm the eyewitness accounts since Tbilisi could not dispatch a recovery team on site in Abkhazia. Hours after the shootdown, Georgian operational command sent a notification to the UN Observer Mission about the drone flight, post-dated April 19. On April 21, Abkhaz Deputy Defense Minister Gari Kupalba announced the recovery of drone debris and claimed that an Abkhaz-owned L-39 jet had brought shot the UAV down with an
air-to-air missile as it was conducting a reconnaissance flight over the Gali and Ochamchire districts. Later that same day, Colonel
Davit Nairashvili, commander of the
Georgian Air Force, retracted Tbilisi's earlier denial and confirmed during an interview with
Reuters that a Georgian UAV had indeed been shot down in Abkhazia after observing troop buildups in Gali. Georgian officials adamantly denied the claim that an Abkhaz L-39 had the capacity to shoot down a drone and Nairashvili affirmed to foreign press that the spy plane had been downed by a Russian
Mikoyan MiG-29 that had taken off from a supposedly abandoned military base in
Gudauta. The Georgian Ministry of Defense published the entire footage recorded by the drone, a total of 2h27, including the moment when a military jet fires a missile in the direction of its camera. Tbilisi summoned Russian Ambassador
Vyacheslav Kovalenko to hand over a note of protest and shared the drone footage with every foreign embassy based in Tbilisi. Russia categorically denied any involvement in the shootdown, claiming that all of its military pilots were "resting" on April 20, a Sunday. President Saakashvili called the incident an "unprovoked aggression against the sovereign territory of Georgia" and asked Vladimir Putin during an April 21 phone call to "immediately repeal the establishment of official ties with the breakaway regions and to stop attacks on Georgia." At that moment, Saakashvili stated Tbilisi's response would be "only to offer more peace initiatives" for conflict resolution. Moscow consistently supported Abkhazia's version of events, namely that the drone had been shot down by an L-39 that Abkhazia acquired from
Ichkeria in the early 1990s. In his conversation with Saakashvili, Putin expressed "bewilderment" at the idea of Georgian UAVs flying over Abkhazia in violation of the 1994 ceasefire agreement. In response to the drone footage released by Georgia, later authenticated by the UNOMIG investigation, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it "does not warrant trust and raises many question marks," noting alleged discrepancies with Tbilisi's version and the alleged pilot's maneuvers, the missile pylons' location on the plane, and several details later discredited by the UN. Georgian military experts believe that it took the military plane two shots to hit its target, for the Elbit Hermes 450 has an engine small enough to make it a difficult target for heat-seeking missiles, hence the eyewitness accounts of "two explosion sounds". Moreover, experts also believe that the technological capacities of the L-39 would have made its successful interception of a small drone in the skies "not a plausible story". The Georgian Ministry of Defense invited groups of experts from the
Baltic states and the United States to conduct investigations into the April 20 incident. On May 12, Saakashvili called for an EU investigation in addition to the UNOMIG ongoing one, which the EU did not do. Eventually, the UNSC-endorsed investigation confirmed Tbilisi's claim of a Russian plane having shot down its drone using a
Vympel R-73 missile from a distance of 44.26 km, although it could not confirm if the plane was an MiG-29 or a
Sukhoi Su-27. On April 22, then-US Ambassador to Russia
William J. Burns sought to raise the issue of the drone's shootdown with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which refused to open talks with
Washington on the issue, insisting it only sought direct contacts on the matter with Georgia. According to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks, Aleksey Pavlovskiy, the CIS Fourth Department Deputy Director at the Russian MFA, told American diplomats that he questioned the reasoning behind the drone's shootdown, given that Russia "did not need" this kind of altercations with Georgia at the moment. On April 23, the
U.S. Department of State issued an official statement expressing "deep concern" over the "shooting down of an unarmed Georgian UAV, by a presumably Russian MiG-29," adding criticism for "the presence of a MiG-29 aircraft in Georgian airspace without Georgian authorization, and the use of weapons from this aircraft." The same day, at Georgia's request, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency session to discuss the drone incident, during which Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin rejected the authenticity of the drone footage, while Georgian Foreign Minister
Davit Bakradze affirmed that the incident substantially damaged Russia's role as a neutral mediator in the peace process. On April 30, a Forum for Security Cooperation was organized by the OSCE in
Vienna to encourage discussions between Tbilisi and Moscow, mediated by the Finnish Presidency of the OSCE. On May 6, White House spokeswoman
Dana Perino directly accused Russia of shooting down the drone, become the first international figure to do so.
United Nations investigation The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia launched an investigation into the April 20 shootdown, establishing a fact-finding team of international investigations, including military radar controllers, UAV technology experts, pilots (including one L-39 pilot), and others. Though UNOMIG originally sought a joint investigation with the Commonwealth of Independent States' Peacekeeping Force, Georgia, and the Abkhaz separatist governments, they each refused to take direct part in the investigation, although the Mission recognized that Georgia was the sole party to fully cooperate along the way. Georgian authorities discussed inviting independent investigative groups from the United States and the Baltic states, although they never published their final findings. Abkhaz authorities refused to cooperate with the Mission for most of the investigation, but gave it access to the debris collected from the alleged shootdowns of March 18, April 20, and May 12. The lack of cooperation with the investigation from Russia was meant with criticism and publicly-deriding comments from Tbilisi. After analyzing alleged crash sites, debris, studying eyewitness accounts, and Georgian radar records from the
Poti radar stations, UNOMIG published its final report on May 26, confirming as authentic the drone footage and radar records provided by Georgia. The investigation found that the military aircraft that brought down the Georgian UAV on April 20 was, indeed, Russian, though it could not confirm what kind of aircraft it was. Available data revealed the plane's design was compatible with either an MiG-29 or a Su-27, both used exclusively by Russia, while the aircraft was seen as confirmed as heading towards
Maykop into Russian airspace after shooting down the drone, concluding that the plane belonged to the
Russian Air Force. The investigation was unable, however, to confirm Georgia's claim that the plane had taken off from the abandoned base of Gudauta in Abkhazia, which would have constituted a clear violation of the 1994 ceasefire agreement: though the radar picked up the plane's ping near Gudauta, another explanation was that it flew at a low altitude until reaching the vicinity of Gudauta, before ascending high enough to be picked up by the Georgian radar. The UNOMIG investigation also confirmed that Georgian drones were indeed shot down on March 18 and May 12, despite previous Georgian denials, and confirmed at least five Georgian drone flights and two Russian jet flights over Abkhazia between March 18 and May 12. As for the April 20 incident, the investigation revealed that the drone crossed the ceasefire line at 09:31, while radars first picked up the intercepting jet at 09:48, 12.6 km east of Gudauta at an altitude of 2,800 m. A short-range missile was used to shoot down the drone and the explosion took place inside an international airway at a time when a civilian aircraft were flying. UNOMIG accused both Georgia and Russia of violating the 1994 ceasefire agreement, Georgia for using a reconnaissance military aircraft banned by the Moscow Agreement, and Russia for using a plane independent from its peacekeeping forces to shoot down the drone on April 20. The results of the investigation were welcomed by the Georgian government, with Saakashvili praising this "first case when an international organization and especially UN, without general phrases, has directly pointed its finger at Russia" and called for an international inspection of the Gudauta military base. On May 27, the
Georgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Russian Ambassador Kovalenko to demand an official apology and "appropriate compensation for the material loss". On the other hand, Russia focused on what it called the "root causes" of the incident, namely the use by Georgia of UAVs to illegally engage in reconnaissance missions over Abkhazia, something that Tbilisi justified by pointing fingers at the increased Russian military presence in the region. Discussing the claimed legitimacy of Georgian drone flights, UNOMIG stated, Russian diplomatic efforts focused on finding issues with details of the investigation and the evidence provided, which the Russian MFA called "questionable" just a day after the report's publication. Though it refused to publicize its own radar records, it claimed that the Georgian air radar data "did not coincide with those available for us", asking Georgia to hand over the records to Russia for a separate analysis. Ambassador Churkin further questioned the lack of communication between the pilot of the aircraft and ground control, which, according to him, made it "virtually impossible to shoot down a drone". Aleksandr Drobishevsky, spokesman for the Russian Air Force, denied his force's involvement in the incident. Abkhaz authorities accused the United Nations of bias, with
de facto Foreign Minister
Sergei Shamba announcing Sokhumi was considering withdrawing from the Geneva Process altogether over the report. When asked about the report's ruling against the plausibility of an L-39's involvement in the shootdown, Shamba said, "all this stuff about double fins is irrelevant." On May 29, Georgia requested, based on Article 35 of the
UN Charter, an emergency session of the UN Security Council to debate the findings of the investigation. Moscow called for the participation of Abkhazia in the session, something that Tbilisi strongly opposed. Georgia's UN Ambassador Irakli Alasania then warned that "it is not in the best interests of Russia to set this kind of precedent, because then the questions arise why can’t other representatives of the separatist movements be allowed at the UN forums." Russia agreed to a Security Council meeting without the participation of Abkhazia, which took place on May 30. During the session, Georgia was backed by the United States, represented by Deputy Representative
Alejandro Wolff, who refused to recognize the drone flights over Abkhazia as a violation of the 1994 Moscow Agreement, calling the issue "unclear at best" and based on "an interpretation as to whether a UAV reconnaissance craft that cannot be armed constitutes military action." Georgia acknowledged its violation of the ceasefire and Ambassador Alasania announced during the UNSC meeting an end to Georgia's drone reconnaissance program, though reserving "the right to fly drones" in the future. Russia's Vitaly Churkin spent the session debating the veracity of the report, alleging that the drone footage released by Georgia had been fabricated. On May 31, the
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the entire process, including the investigation and the UN Security Council meeting.
May 4 alleged Gali shootdowns Abkhaz separatist authorities claimed having shot down another two Georgian UAVs on May 4. According to the Ministry of Defense of Abkhazia, one drone was shot at 16:06 over the village of Dikhazurga and a second one at 16:51 over the village of Bargebi, both in the Gali district (although Russian press claimed the drones had flown over Ochamchire) and both allegedly brought down by air defense units on the ground.
Merab Kishmaria, the separatist republic's Minister of Defense, originally confirmed only one drone shootdown, before adding another one in his official statements. Sokhumi announced having dispatched a search group to locate and recuperate drone debris, located in a radius of 8–12 km from the shootdown point. By the end of day, Abkhaz authorities exhibited alleged debris of the drone to journalists. Georgian television channel
Rustavi 2 originally reported shots fired in the area where the drones were said to have been shot down, with reports of Russian peacekeepers having been taken prisoner. Officials in Tbilisi immediately denied having lost two drones on May 4, calling the claim "another Russian provocation aimed at propaganda support of Russia's military intervention," while confirming that UAVs "have flown, are flying, and will continue to fly over the Georgian sovereign airspace to gather full information about the Russian military intervention." The Ministry of Internal Affairs published a conflicting statement, with Analytical Department head Shota Utiashvili denying any Georgian UAV flying over Abkhazia. The Ministry of Defense of Georgia called the claim an "attempt to distract" from the then-ongoing UN investigation into the April 20 shootdown. Despite Tbilisi's denials, Abkhaz officials issued several statements of condemnations against Tbilisi and
de facto President Baghapsh ordered the Abkhaz military to stand on high alert over increased tensions and issued a direct order to "shoot down any aerial targets violating Abkhaz airspace." Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba called the drone flights "a demonstration of Georgia's aggressive intentions". Moscow publicly sided with Sokhumi, rejecting Georgia's denial and condemning the alleged drone flights as "unauthorized", while describing Abkhazia's alleged shootdown as "natural", a statement that made Tbilisi question Russia's status as peacekeeper. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that "the authorities in Tbilisi have taken the path of deliberately escalating tensions in the region" by continuing to violate the 1994 ceasefire agreement and "ignoring Russia's warnings." On May 6, Abkhazia's Shamba stated during an interview that the Abkhaz armed forces had used a Buk missile system to shoot down the two UAVs, marking the first admission by Sokhumi that its military possessed such an advanced anti-aircraft system. Separatist authorities claimed that the Buk system had been left behind by Russian forces during the
1992–1993 Abkhazia War, but Georgia believed the system had been positioned in the region as late as 2007, in violation of the 1994 ceasefire agreement, and called on the United Nations to "urgently launch a probe into the presence and use of anti-aircraft defense systems in Abkhazia". Russia's 643rd Anti-Aircraft Regiment stationed in Gudauta in 1992 reportedly possessed three Buk missile systems and had left them behind after the end of the war, a claim that could not be verified over Russia's refusal to allow international monitors into the abandoned Gudauta base.
May 8 alleged Ochamchire shootdown On May 8, the Ministry of Defense of Abkhazia claimed having shot down another Georgian UAV over the Ochamchire district at 17:05 (or 17:10 according to some reports), using local anti-aircraft missile systems. According to Sokhumi, the drone was shot down at an altitude of 1,500 m and allegedly carried an air-to-air missiles, "representing danger for both civilians and peacekeeping troops." The incident was condemned by Abkhaz separatist officials as a "gross violation of Abkhaz airspace". Tbilisi once again denied the shootdown, with Shota Utiashvili called the claim a "lie" in an interview with
Reuters. During a meeting with Russian journalists in
Batumi, President Saakashvili also denied the reports. Though the Interior Ministry originally denied having flown a drone over Abkhazia that day, it would reveal days later footage said to have been recorded by a Georgian UAV on May 8 revealing Russian troop and military equipment movement in Abkhazia, independent from the publicly-announced Russian peacekeeping reinforcement. According to emails leaked by WikiLeaks, Stratfor analyst Karen Hooper claimed having an "Abkhaz source" that told her local authorities kept using the same downed drone's debris in various incidents, including on May 8, simply moving the wreckage for videos.
May 12 alleged Ochamchire shootdowns On May 12, Abkhaz Deputy Defense Minister Gari Kupalba claimed his forces had brought down an additional two Georgian UAVs, one at 14:16 over the village of Shesheleti and another one at 15:07 over the village of
Achigvara, both in the Ochamchire district, and both shot down at an altitude of at least 5,000 m. Sokhumi claimed having retrieved debris from at least one of the drones, confirming it to be an Elbit Hermes 450, owned by the Ministry of Defense of Georgia. The Georgian government originally denied the reports. On May 14, Tbilisi acknowledged having lost one drone two days prior, although it never stated which of the two incidents claimed by Abkhazia was confirmed. These shootdowns are the last to take place in Abkhazia before Georgia announces an end to its drone surveillance program on May 30. == Reactions ==