Russia's Vladimir Putin says to seek nationwide ceasefire in Syria

Speaking at a news conference during a visit to Japan, Putin said that he had agreed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to hold peace talks on Syria in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana.

Those talks would be in addition to United Nations (UN) brokered talks that have been taking place intermittently in Geneva, Putin told reporters.

On Thursday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said the events taking place in the city of Aleppo are a historic moment, and said the world will be different after what he called the "liberation of Aleppo".

"What is happening today is the writing of a history written by every Syrian citizen. The writing did not start today, it started six years ago when the crisis and war started against Syria," Assad said in a video statement published on the Syrian Presidency's Twitter account.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government of carrying out "nothing short of a massacre" in Aleppo, where thousands on Thursday were evacuated under a ceasefire deal from the last rebel enclave in a city besieged by fighting for years.