Felgenhauer initially described retaking South Ossetia from Georgia as a Russian logistical nightmare and claimed that Russia would face a prolonged and difficult war against Georgia's "quite good military". After the Russian Army, with a heavy preponderance in numbers, managed to route elements of Georgian Army from Tskhinvali Region following five days of hard fighting, the swiftness and ferocity of the Russian attack made Felgenhauer re-assess the situation, asserting that Russia's intervention was fully pre-planned (i.e. "Kavkaz-2008" Military Exercise) and that "invasion was inevitable, no matter what the Georgians did."