Russian diplomat says Longer Aleppo ceasefire possible

By Azernews

By Gunay Hasanova

Russia has unilaterally announced an eight-hour "humanitarian" ceasefire in Aleppo on Thursday, as the UN voiced a necessity to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to numerous individuals in need in the city.

A longer ceasefire in the city of Aleppo is possible, but has to be agreed on multilaterally, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said after a UN Security Council meeting on Syria, Sputnik International reported.

"We have declared the 8-hour unilaterally, I supposed that longer, like 48-hours or 72-hours will require some kind of mutual arrangements", Churkin stated on Monday.

The situation in Aleppo has extremely deteriorated lately as heavy battles are going on in the city and its outskirts. The Syrian government launched an operation in Aleppo last month with Russian air support and Iranian-backed militias.

Earlier, the U.S. accused the Syrian authorities and the Russian Federation of bombing peaceful civilians and armed opposition. Damascus and Moscow insist that strike blows only at the terrorists and accuses Washington of failing to pressure on the troops of "moderate opposition" so that they separate themselves from the terrorists.