The besieged population of eastern Aleppo faces a "very bleak moment" with no food or medical supplies, winter approaching, and an increasingly fierce attack by Syrian and allied forces, UN humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said on Friday, November 18, Reuters reports.

Although Russia and rebel groups both sounded positive about a UN humanitarian plan to get supplies in and the sick and wounded out of eastern Aleppo, neither has yet given final approval, he said.

The United Nations planned convoys with aid for 1 million Syrians in besieged or hard-to-reach areas this month, but so far not one convoy has reached its destination. Syrian troops turned back aid for the town of Douma on Thursday, Egeland said.