U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he discussed Ukraine and "all aspects" of Aleppo, including renewed bombing in the Syrian city, in a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Speaking to reporters after their one-on-one talk during an Asian-Pacific economic summit in Peru on November 17, Lavrov denied that Russia's military was carrying out air strikes in Aleppo this week.
"Our air force and the Syrian air force only work in the provinces of Idlib and Homs to prevent the [Islamic State militants] who might be leaving Mosul from getting to Syria," Lavrov said.
U.S. and Iraqi forces are in the midst of a campaign to dislodge IS from Mosul.
Monitoring groups say air strikes and shelling in rebel-held Aleppo have killed dozens this week. They say the bombardment restarted on November 15 after a four-week pause in what appears to be a wider military escalation against insurgents by the Syrian government.
Lavrov did not comment when asked about the future of the Iran nuclear agreement that Russia helped broker once Donald Trump, who has vowed to dismantle it, becomes president of the United States.
