Russia's defense ministry on Friday said that a temporary truce in the Syrian battleground city of Aleppo has been extended into a third day.

"In order to prevent the situation from worsening, on the initiative of the Russian side the regime of silence in the province of Latakia and in the city of Aleppo has been extended from 00:01 (local time) on May 7 to a total of 72 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

The truce had been due to end early Saturday after giving residents some respite from two weeks of fighting that killed more than 280 civilians, even as clashes raged south of the city.