Turkey reportedly ready to work with Russia on Syrian ceasefire

Turkey is "more than ready" to coordinate with Russia on a Syrian ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian assistance if the Kremlin is willing to do so, Turkey's foreign minister said on Thursday.

"We discussed the issues of ceasefire and humanitarian aid with our Iranian counterpart Mr Zarif yesterday. After the normalisation of our relations we are discussing the same issues with our ally Russia," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara, referring to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"We have to try harder for a ceasefire and political resolution. If Russia is prepared to cooperate with us on the ceasefire and humanitarian aid, we are more than ready."

The Kremlin said that Russia's air force would press ahead with its operations in Syria and dismissed a US statement on the conflict there as unhelpful and clumsy.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on Moscow to ground its planes over Syrian battle zones, including over Aleppo. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters on Thursday that the Russian air force would continue to support Syrian government troops and that what he called the "war on terror" would continue.