On August 14, 1992 troops of the State Council of Georgia invaded Abkhazia under the pretext of protecting the railway.

The official reason for the transfer of Georgian troops was the State Council's assertion that the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia Roman Gventsadze and twelve hostages captured by Zviadists were in Abkhazia. The Tbilisi authorities also spoke about the need " to protect the railway" which in fact resulted in armed aggression against Abkhazia. A discussion of the draft "Treaty on the Fundamentals of Relations between the Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of Georgia" developed by Doctor of Law Taras Shamba was scheduled for August 14, 1992 in the Supreme Council of Abkhazia but that did not happen. The Georgian authorities chose a military solution to the problem of relations with Abkhazia. The Supreme Council of Abkhazia assessed the actions of the State Council of Georgia as " a prepared occupation of the territory of sovereign Abkhazia." Up to two thousand Georgian "guardsmen", 58 armored vehicles and a large amount of artillery (including Grad and Uragan rocket launchers) participated in the occupation of Abkhazia. The plan for the occupation of Abkhazia, codenamed "Sword" was implemented two weeks after Georgia was admitted to the UN. The chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Abkhazia Vladislav Ardzinba addressed the people on television with a call to stand up for the defense of the Motherland. The Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Abkhazia adopted a resolution "On the mobilization of the adult population and the transfer of weapons to the regiment of the internal troops of Abkhazia"

The war which lasted 413 days ended with the victory of the Abkhazian people.