Russian and Syrian forces announce 'humanitarian pause' for Aleppo

Russian and Syrian forces are preparing a "humanitarian pause" for the besieged city of Aleppo on Thursday, the head of Russia's military general staff said.

The European Union has urged Russia to bring an end to the bombing of the Syrian city of Aleppo, but refrained from imposing any sanctions on Moscow.

At a regular meeting of EU foreign ministers, several of them said sanctions against Russia would have no impact and could even be counter-productive in the search for an overall settlement to the conflict in Syria.