Russia and the United States have suspended talks on ways to resolve the crisis in Syria's largest city of Aleppo, TASS news agency cited a Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Thursday, December 15, according to Reuters.

An operation to evacuate thousands of civilians and fighters from the last rebel bastion in Aleppo was under way on Thursday despite an earlier attack on a medical convoy by pro-government forces.

As buses and ambulances moved into the besieged enclave, the International Committee of the Red Cross said efforts to evacuate around 200 wounded people, part of a wider ceasefire deal, had begun.

Russia, a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said the evacuation of 5,000 Syrian rebels and their family members from eastern Aleppo had started.