Editing First Chechen War (section)

===Third Battle of Grozny and the Khasavyurt Accord===
{{Main|Battle of Grozny (August 1996)}}
Despite Russian troops in and around [[Grozny]] numbering approximately 12,000, more than 1,500 Chechen guerrillas (whose numbers soon swelled) overran the key districts within hours in an operation prepared and led by [[Aslan Maskhadov]] (who named it Operation Zero) and [[Shamil Basayev]] (who called it Operation Jihad). The fighters then laid [[siege]] to the Russian posts and bases and the government compound in the city centre, while a number of Chechens deemed to be Russian collaborators were rounded up, detained and, in some cases, executed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/chechen/checheng/fin_rep.htm|title=czecz|website=memo.ru|access-date=2006-12-13|archive-date=2016-12-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215094538/http://www.memo.ru/hr/hotpoints/chechen/checheng/fin_rep.htm}}</ref> At the same time, Russian troops in the cities of [[Argun, Chechen Republic|Argun]] and [[Gudermes]] were also surrounded in their garrisons. Several attempts by the armored columns to rescue the units trapped in Grozny were repelled with heavy Russian casualties (the 276th Motorized Regiment of 900 men suffered 50% casualties in a two-day attempt to reach the city centre). Russian military officials said that more than 200 soldiers had been killed and nearly 800 wounded in five days of fighting, and that an unknown number were missing; Chechens put the number of Russian dead at close to 1,000. Thousands of troops were either taken prisoner or surrounded and largely disarmed, their heavy weapons and ammunition commandeered by Chechen fighters.

On 19 August, despite the presence of 50,000 to 200,000 Chechen civilians and thousands of federal servicemen in Grozny, the Russian commander [[Konstantin Pulikovsky]] gave an ultimatum for Chechen fighters to leave the city within 48 hours, or else it would be leveled in a massive aerial and artillery bombardment. He stated that federal forces would use [[strategic bomber]]s (not used in Chechnya up to this point) and [[ballistic missile]]s. This announcement was followed by chaotic scenes of [[panic]] as civilians tried to flee before the army carried out its threat, with parts of the city ablaze and falling shells scattering refugee columns.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20021120100946/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1996/08/22/wrus22.html Lebed calls off assault on Grozny] ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]''</ref> The bombardment was however soon halted by the ceasefire brokered by General [[Alexander Lebed]], [[Boris Yeltsin|Yeltsin]]'s national security adviser, on 22 August. Gen. Lebed called the ultimatum, issued by General Pulikovsky (replaced by then), a "bad joke".<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9608/21/chechnya.final/ Lebed promises peace in Grozny and no Russian assault] [[CNN]] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211122033/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9608/21/chechnya.final/ |date=December 11, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Lee Hockstader and David Hoffman|url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1996-08-22/news/9608220016_1_grozny-gen-konstantin-pulikovsky-alexander-lebed|title=Russian Official Vows To Stop Raid|publisher=Sun Sentinel|date=1996-08-22|access-date=2012-02-03|archive-date=2012-02-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207065343/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1996-08-22/news/9608220016_1_grozny-gen-konstantin-pulikovsky-alexander-lebed}}</ref>

During eight hours of subsequent talks, Lebed and Maskhadov drafted and signed the [[Khasavyurt Accord]] on 31 August 1996. It included: technical aspects of [[demilitarization]], the withdrawal of both sides' forces from Grozny, the creation of joint headquarters to preclude looting in the city, the withdrawal of all federal forces from [[Chechnya]] by 31 December 1996, and a stipulation that any agreement on the relations between the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the Russian federal government need not be signed until late 2001.