The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously approved a statement backing intensive preparatory talks on key issues to restore peace to Syria.

The move is a sign of possible change in the UN's most powerful body, which has been deeply divided over how to end a war that has killed more than 250,000 people.

Before all 15 council members approved the text, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the statement "would be the first exclusively political document on the Syrian crisis adopted by consensus".