UNITED NATIONS, August 10, 2008 (AFP) - UN Security Council talks on ending the fierce fighting in the breakaway Georgian enclave of South Ossetia ended in deadlock 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.

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

The collapse marked the third time the Security Council failed 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.'

A protest sprung up outside UN heaquarters late Saturday, as around 200 people waved Georgian flags and held up signs that said: 'Aggressor Russia,' and 'Russia Stop Bombing in 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, calling the events 'genocide.'

'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.

Pointing to the enclave's small population -- estimated at 70,000 -- Churkin said he told the Security Council: 'Two thousand killed, is it enough for you? Thirty thousand refugees, is that enough for you?'

'How many people have to be killed for genocide? It's genocide to the South Ossetians,' he told reporters after attending Council consultations that again failed to produce agreement on a call for a ceasefire in the bitter fighting between Russia and Georgia.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earlier called for an investigation into alleged acts of genocide by Georgian forces during their offensive against the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

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 Foreign forces have to be withdrawn,' US deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said as he stressed the need for a mediation to resolve the conflict.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

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

Earlier 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 recognized by any state.

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