Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday that terrorists refusing to leave the contested Syrian city of Aleppo will be eliminated.

"If someone refuses to leave on good terms, he will be eliminated as I understand. There is no other way out," Lavrov said at a press conference.

The United States "unexpectedly" notified Russia that a previously scheduled meeting in Geneva to decide the route and timetable of the militants' withdrawal from eastern Aleppo could not begin on Wednesday, and Washington is preparing for a new one.

This looks like an attempt "to buy time with the aim of allowing militants to take a breath and replenish supplies," Lavrov said.

He said Russia would help the Syrian army to take additional security measures to protect hospitals from terrorists after Monday's shelling of a Russian mobile hospital in Aleppo, in which two Russian nurses were killed and one doctor was seriously wounded.

Rebel fighters captured eastern Aleppo in 2012. The Syrian government troops and allied forces have recently launched a broad campaign to end their presence in the city.

source: Xinhua