From August 8, 2008, the day after the conflict started, Russian and South Ossetian government officials repeatedly cited figures of South Ossetian civilian deaths from Georgian attacks ranging from 1,400 to more than 2,000 and this was used as one of the main justifications for Russian intervention.[2][3][4] For instance, Dmitry Medvedev stated that "the actions of the Georgian side cannot be called anything other than genocide" on 10 August 2008.[5] Medvedev also said: "The form this aggression took is nothing less than genocide because Georgia committed heaviest crimes — civilians were torched, sawed to pieces and rolled over by tanks."[6]