The UN Security Council is meeting tonight in New York to discuss the escalating fighting in South Ossetia.
The 15-member council held a rare late-night emergency session last night that ran into this morning, but was unable to agree on a statement that would have called on Georgia and South Ossetian separatists to halt bloodshed.
Council diplomats said one phrase in it was unacceptable to the Georgians, backed by the United States and Europeans. That wording called on all sides in the conflict "to renounce the use of force," according to a draft of the text.
But Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters before entering the council chambers that the five permanent council members - Russia, China, Britain, France and the United States - were close to an agreement on acceptable new wording.
Several council diplomats told reporters a new draft would have the council urging all parties to refrain from any further acts of violence - language that would be a call for a ceasefire without precluding the Georgian government from using force to take control of its territory in the future.
Diplomats said there was consensus among Security Council members that the situation risked spinning out of control and that the UN had a responsibility to get involved.