Russia said today its military was looking into "information" about an air strike on a UN aid convoy in Syria after the regime announced an end to a week-long ceasefire.
"I don't think it is possible or correct to make any unsubstantiated conclusions," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Our military is currently verifying information about this strike and I hope they will receive concrete information from the ground and can then release a statement."
The UN said at least 18 trucks in a 31-vehicle convoy were destroyed late Monday as they were en route to deliver humanitarian assistance to the hard-to-reach town of Orum al-Kubra, killing a Red Crescent staff member and civilians.
Russia is flying a bombing campaign in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad, and there are suspicions that either Moscow or the Syrian forces it supports were responsible for the strike.
Washington expressed outrage over the attack, stressing that the convoy's destination was known to both the regime and to Russia.
The United Nations has since suspended all humanitarian aid convoys for security reasons.
The incident came hours after the Syrian military declared an end to a week-long truce brokered by the Moscow and Washington earlier this month in an attempt to end the five-year war.
Peskov said that hope for a renewal of the ceasefire was "for now, very weak", stressing that a truce could only be resumed if "terrorists" halted their alleged bombardments of government forces.
"The conditions are very simple. The shooting needs to stop and the terrorists need to stop attacking Syrian troops," he said.
"And, of course, it wouldn't hurt if our American colleagues didn't accidentally bomb the Syrians," he added, referring to a US-led coalition strike last week that Moscow said had killed at least 62 Syrian servicemen.
Russia and the United States have persistently blamed each other for not doing enough to fulfil the deal.
Moscow insists that Syrian troops had fully respected the truce - which was meant to end hostilities and ensure aid deliveries - but that the rebels had kept up their bombardments.
Russia's defence ministry said yesterday that the week-long truce had been violated 302 times and that 63 civilians had been killed.
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