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France’s President François Hollande has expressed hope a UN Security Council meeting on Syria will achieve concrete results.

The leader said Paris was working on a resolution to secure humanitarian aid corridors and called on Russia not to use its veto to block the proposal.

“Russia has used its veto several times. But to use it for a resolution whose aim is humanitarian? What responsibility would they have to take if they went that far? Because what we want is just to save the population, when the fighting has almost stopped,” he said.

Hollande’s Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, said Moscow was pursuing talks on a nationwide ceasefire.

“The next step is to reach an agreement on a ceasefire across the whole of Syria. We’re currently in very active discussions with representatives of the opposition and there is also Turkish mediation.”

This, Putin said, will be in addition to UN-brokered peace talks on Syria taking place in Geneva.

The United Nations has been monitoring and assisting in the most-recent evacuation efforts from Aleppo. Despite the uncertain situation on the ground, hopes are still pinned on international talks with the aim of ending the crisis.

#Aleppo: Regretfully, the operation was put on hold. We urge the parties to ensure it can be relaunched & proceed in the right conditions.— Robert Mardini (@RMardiniICRC) December 16, 2016

United Nations