KIEV, Aug. 10 – President Viktor Yushchenko made efforts to reach out to world leaders Saturday and Sunday as heavy fighting between Russian and Georgian forces threatened to spread in the region.

But there were little signs of progress as Russian troops reportedly advanced on the Georgian town of Gori Sunday, in what is Russia’s biggest use of force outside its borders since the 1991 Soviet collapse.

Yushchenko spoke by phone with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, seeking a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

“The main goal of these consultations is to stop the military conflict in South Ossetia and to start peace talks,” Yushchenko’s press service said in a statement on Sunday. The president also planned to call his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski, the press service said.

Lithuania and Poland, as well as Ukraine and Georgia, are the key members of a regional bloc that is being created to counterbalance Russia’s influence, including its energy monopoly, in the region.

Georgia began an offensive to regain control over its Russia-backed separatist region of South Ossetia overnight Friday, launching heavy rocket and artillery fire and air strikes that pounded the provincial capital, Tskhinvali.

Russia, which has granted passports to most South Ossetians, launched overwhelming military response, including strikes by strategic bombers and ballistic missiles, on targets across the Georgian territory.

Russia has demanded that Georgia pull out its troops from South Ossetia as a condition to negotiate a cease-fire. It also urged Georgia to sign a pledge not to use force against South Ossetia as another condition for ending hostilities.

Georgian troops retreated from the breakaway province on Sunday while Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili pressed for a truce, but Russia had failed to respond.

"Georgia expresses its readiness to immediately start negotiations with the Russian Federation on cease-fire and termination of hostilities," Georgia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

But Russia continued to use its military power on Sunday, sending tanks and troops across the South Ossetia, now to the Georgian territory, threatening to turn the conflict into an outright war between Russia and Georgia.

"This is a dangerous escalation in the crisis," an official in the administration of U.S. President George Bush was quoted on Sunday by AP. Russia's military response "marks a severe escalation and is being conducted in areas far, far from the South Ossetia zone of conflict, which is where the Russian side has said it needed to protect its citizens and peacekeepers.”

“So the response has been far disproportionate to whatever threat Russia had been citing," the official said. (tl/ez)