11:10AM EST: The Associated Press reports that Georgia says its troops have begun observing a cease-fire in the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

The Foreign Ministry says the troops stopped firing on President Mikhail Saakashvili’s order. The Georgian authorities said earlier its troops had left South Ossetia.

The ministry said Sunday it was ready to start immediate negotiations with Russia on a cease-fire and ending hostilities.

Earlier reports said Russia had expanded its bombing blitz Sunday against neighboring U.S.-allied Georgia, targeting the country’s capital for the first time while Georgian troops pulled out of the breakaway province of South Ossetia, as Russia has demanded.

(Source: Associated Press)