The Ministry of Defense of Armenia announced the offensive of Azerbaijani troops in Nagorno-Karabakh in the northern and southern directions. According to the press secretary of the department Shushan Stepanyan, stubborn battles are going on.
Great forces are concentrated in these areas. The Armenian military is holding back the enemy’s advance, suffering heavy losses, Stepanyan wrote on Facebook.
Earlier on October 3, Azerbaijan announced that it had occupied new strongholds on the line of contact. Also, the Ministry of Defense of the republic announced the destruction of a significant amount of manpower and military equipment of Armenia. Armenia does not confirm these data.
At the same time, the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic reported that Azerbaijan lost more than 3 thousand people during the escalation and hundreds of pieces of equipment.
Another aggravation in the NKR took place on September 27. Armenia and Azerbaijan blamed each other for shelling and death of civilians. Armenia has repeatedly stated that Turkey is participating in the battles on the side of Azerbaijan. Turkey and Azerbaijan deny this information, but Ankara declared its readiness to provide any assistance to Baku upon request.
Russia, France, the United States and the UN called on the parties to a ceasefire and a peaceful settlement. At the same time, Turkey and Ukraine expressed support for Baku.
Relations between the two countries have remained tense since the announcement of the NKR about its secession from the Azerbaijan SSR in 1988. During the war in 1992-1994, Azerbaijan lost control of the region.