MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Fighting has recently escalated in the northern city, which is split between government and militant forces. Some 250,000 civilians have been stranded without access to necessities.
"The point is to prevent an even worse catastrophe for the civilian population. Therefore we urgently need UN-controlled humanitarian access to Aleppo to supply people with water and food," Steinmeier told German newspaper Bild.
He stressed that the warring parties must be forced to make a humanitarian pause in fighting to allow safe access to the city, which has been devastated by five years of war.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said last week that Moscow and Damascus had launched a large-scale humanitarian operation in Aleppo, opening three escape routes for civilians and one for militants wishing to lay down arms.
