The United Nations' Secretary-General has pressed the U.S. and Russia to help ensure that peace talks aimed at stemming Syria's civil war can resume on Feb 10 as proposed by the UN mediator, the Associated Press reports.

A week of peace talks ended in Geneva Friday with no concrete progress and no immediate commitment from President Bashar Assad's envoys to return on the date suggested by mediator Lakhdar Brahimi.

Ban Ki-moon said Saturday, Feb 1, he urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at a security conference in Germany "to use their influence to ensure the talks proceed as scheduled on Feb 10."

He urged the warring sides to return to the talks "with more sense of earnestness as well as seriousness and urgency."