(BRUSSELS) - The European Union is working to secure a ceasefire in South Ossetia, its French presidency said Friday, after Russian troops entered the breakaway region to repel a Georgian offensive.

"The European Union, in liaison with all the protagonists, is working towards a ceasefire so as to avoid an extension of the conflict," the EU presidency said in a statement.

The EU "calls on all parties to cease hostilities and to resume, without delay, so as to secure a political solution to the crisis, which respects Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity," it continued.

A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he has been busy on the phone talking with, among others, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Georgia's Foreign Minister Ekaterine Tkeshelashvili.

The European Union's special representative for the southern Caucasus region, Peter Senneby, from Sweden, was meanwhile on his way to Georgia, Solana's office said.

The EU presidency statement came shortly after EU member state Lithuania said its foreign minister Petras Vaitiekunas was heading to Georgia to take stock of the crisis and put fellow European Union member states in the picture.

The Lithuanian foreign ministry said Vaitiekunas' mission -- ordered by President Valdas Adamkus -- followed consultations with his counterparts in Finland, Latvia, Poland, Sweden and Ukraine.

A spokesman for the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, said the bloc was "extremely concerned at the reports of heavy fighting in the South Ossetian conflict zone and deplores the loss of life."

The 27-nation bloc "stands ready to increase its contribution to conflict resolution in Georgia with confidence-building measures," he added.

Russian tanks and troops entered Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia province on Friday to repel a Georgian military offensive to reclaim the region amid fighting said to have left hundreds dead.

Moscow vowed retaliation to defend Russians in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali hit by the Georgian artillery and air assault -- the worst fighting since the 1992-94 separatist war in the region.

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