Azerbaijan says it will not stop until ethnic Armenian separatists surrender.
Azerbaijan's military action in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region is continuing for a second day.
Baku on Tuesday launched an "anti-terrorist" operation against the ethnic Aremnia enclave that has claimed 29 lives so far.
Tensions have bubbled for months over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, though largely controlled by Armenian separatists.
Baku demands the surrender and dissolution of the government in Stepanakert, the region's capital. It called this a necessary condition for negotiations to start.
Armenia has denounced Azerbaijan's "aggression" which it says is aimed at "ethnic cleansing" and called on Russian peacekeepers in the region to intervene.
The international community has condemned the bloodshed, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calling for an "immediate end to the fighting".
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, France called for an "emergency" meeting of the Security Council to discuss the “illegal” and “unjustifiable” offensive led by Baku.
On Tuesday, explosions and gunfire were heard in Stepanakert, as local authorities reported attacks along the entire line of contact.
Fighting has already left at least 29 people dead. Separatists report 27 deaths, including two civilians and more than 200 injured. Plus some 7,000 residents in 16 localities have been evacuated.
Azerbaijan reported two civilians deaths in areas under its control.
Baku says it has used artillery, rockets and drones to break through the separatists' defence lines in several places, capturing 60 enemy positions, though this cannot be independently verified.
Hundreds of Armenian protesters, frustrated by their country's response, clashed with police outside parliament in Yerevan, condemning their leader as a traitor and calling on him to resign.
Shortly after launching its offensive, Azerbaijan released a statement describing the attack as "anti-terrorist measures" to "restore the constitutional structure of the Republic of Azerbaijan".
Yerevan says it has no troops in the enclave, home to 120,000 ethnic Armenians, suggesting its separatist allies were there to face the Azeri assault.
Azerbaijan and Armenia first went to war in the 1990s, amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Armed hostilities broke out again in 2020, with Azerbaijan recapturing areas in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. A truce was agreed and monitored by 3,000 Russian peacekeepers.
Russian foreign ministry on Wednesday called for an "end to hostilities and civilian casualties.”
There have been claims the war in Ukraine has distracted Moscow from ensuring regional peace.
Russia said its soldiers had moved almost 500 civilians from the most at-risk areas, while separatists said they had helped relocate around 7,000.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said it was setting up safe passages for civilians fleeing areas hit by the fighting.
“In order to enable the evacuation of the population from the dangerous zone, humanitarian corridors and reception points have been set up," it said in a statement released on Tuesday.
Baku said it began its military action after six people, including four police officers, were killed in two landmine explosions.
Regional ally Turkey was informed in advance of the assault, it claimed.
Azerbaijan has imposed an effective blockade on the only route into the enclave from Armenia, known as the Lachin Corridor, for several months leading up to Tuesday's offensive.
Some had hoped regional tensions might ease.
Source: euronews
Комментарии