UNITED NATIONS - UN Security Council talks on ending the fierce fighting in the breakaway Georgian enclave of South Ossetia ended in deadlock on Saturday as envoys again failed to agree on a call for a truce between Russia and Georgia.

'We have come to the conclusion that it will be very difficult if not impossible to find common ground on a statement,' Belgian ambassador Jan Grauls, the council chair this month, told reporters after informal closed-door consultations.

Late on Friday, the Security Council failed for the second time to agree on the Belgian-drafted statement that would urge the warring sides to 'show restraint and to refrain from any further acts of violence or force.'

'It is clear that the conflict has now expanded in other areas than South Ossetia, we see a deteriorating situation in Abkhazia,' Mr Grauls added, referring to the other Moscow-backed rebel enclave of Georgia.

Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin reiterated Moscow's demand that Tbilisi commit itself to renouncing the use of force and withdraw its forces from South Ossetia.

'The Georgians must pull out of South Ossetia and must agree to sign a document of non-use of force in South Ossetia,' he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told CNN his country was ready to take immediate steps towards a ceasefire in South Ossetia, provided Russia stopped its attacks.

'The ceasefire is not a solution, this adventurous gamble has failed, the only way to deal is to go to the status quo ante,' Churkin retorted.

But he vowed that Russian troops would stay in South Ossetia to protect its people, most of whom are Russian citizens.

'The violence has to stop. Foreign forces have to be withdrawn,' US deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said as he stressed the need for a mediation to resolve the conflict.

UN assistant secretary general for peacekeeping Edmond Mulet informed the council that the UN mission in Georgia was forced to withdraw 15 of its peacekeepers from the Kodori Gorge, a Georgian-controlled area of Abkhazia, to ensure their safety as Abkhaz separatists shelled the area.

Georgia claimed to have successfully repelled several Russian attacks on the Kodori Gorge.

Diplomats said Georgia called for yet another meeting of the Council, which could take place in the coming days.

And Mr Mulet said UN chief Ban Ki Moon would release a statement on the crisis shortly.

The flurry of UN diplomatic activity came amid mounting international concern as Russia stepped up its military onslaught against Georgia, bombing the key Georgian port and oil staging post of Poti.

France said on Saturday that it will host an EU foreign ministers meeting in Paris early next week and could even stage a special summit on the crisis in Georgia.

France also announced it was instructing its Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, 'to go as soon as possible to the region to propose to the parties concerned some elements to get out of the crisis.'

The plan is based on 'an immediate cessation of hostilities; the full respect of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia; the re-establishment of the situation that existed before,' said a French statement.

From Beijing, US President George W. Bush pressed on Saturday for an end to the Russian bombing of Georgian forces and said Washington, a close ally of Tbilisi, was working with European countries to launch a mediation effort to end the fighting.

But some diplomats here said that Russia might be stalling council efforts to call for a truce to give its troops enough time to boot all Georgian forces out of South Ossetia.

The breakaway enclave is home to 70,000 people, many of whom have been granted Russian citizenship.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that South Ossetia was unlikely to reintegrate with the rest of Georgia after Tbilisi's current military action.

'Georgia has struck a deadly blow against its own territorial integrity, and therefore to its sovereignty. It is hard to imagine how South Ossetia can be persuaded to reintegrate with Georgia after this,' news agencies quoted him as saying.

Earlier on Saturday, Georgia declared a 'state of war,' saying a Russian air raid had 'completely devastated' the Black Sea port of Poti.

Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia achieved de facto independence from Tbilisi in the early 1990s, but they are not formally recognised by any state.

Moscow tacitly supports the separatists and maintains peacekeeping troops in the two Georgian rebel enclaves. -- AFP