Loud explosions continue to echo every few minutes over the regional capital of Stepanakert in Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday morning.
Authorities are urging residents not to flee, despite reports of signs of panic among the population.
Explosions continue in parts of Nagorno-Karabakh the day after Azerbaijan launched a military operation in the area.
“Right now there is no need to move. We urge you to follow the safety rules and stay in basements and bomb shelters,” the mayor’s office writes in a statement.
However, Russian peacekeeping forces say they have evacuated 2,000 civilians, among them more than 1,000 children, from the “most dangerous” areas, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Extensive damage
Azerbaijan has claimed that artillery fire will continue until the Nagorno-Karabakh regional government dismantles itself and “illegal military formations” surrender. According to Azerbaijan, only legitimate military targets are attacked, but extensive damage has been noted on the streets of Stepanakert.
In recent months, tensions have risen between arch-enemies Armenia and Azerbaijan. It has been felt in the form of a military build-up and mutual accusations of violations of the Russian-brokered ceasefire after fighting in 2020, when more than 6,500 people died.
Airplanes and drones
Armenia has demanded that the Russian peacekeeping forces in the area stop the “Azerbaijani advance”.
– First of all, Russia must take measures and then we expect the UN Security Council to do so as well, said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday.
According to the region’s military, Azerbaijan is using aircraft, artillery, robotic systems and drones in the attacks.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s human rights ombudsman said on Tuesday that 27 people, including two civilians, had been killed and over 200 injured. Higher figures for the number of victims also abound.
FACTS Easy conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh
Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region in the South Caucasus that lies within Azerbaijan’s borders, but is effectively a breakaway region under the wing of Armenia, with a predominantly Armenian population. The area has been at the center of a decades-long territorial conflict between the countries and two wars have been fought over the area.
In August and September 2020, thousands of combatants were killed over six weeks. Russia then brokered a cease-fire agreement, which saw Armenia cede parts of territory it had controlled for decades, while Russia deployed peacekeeping forces manning the five-kilometer-wide Latjin Corridor to ensure free passage between Armenia and Nagorno -Karabakh.
As recently as late June, deadly fighting erupted in the long-disputed region. The parties regularly accuse each other of breaking the ceasefire that is supposed to prevail in the region.
Baku and Yerevan have been trying to negotiate a peace deal with the help of the EU and the US, whose diplomatic involvement in the Caucasus has irked Russia.
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