Russia's defence ministry announced late Wednesday that a ceasefire had been introduced to stabilise the situation in Syria's city of Aleppo for 48 hours starting from Thursday.

"On Russia's initiative, a 'regime of silence' has been introduced in Aleppo for 48 hours from 00:01 16 June (2100 GMT Wednesday) with the goal of lowering the level of armed violence and stabilising the situation," a ministry statement said.