The ethnic Armenian authorities confirm that the injured are being evacuated from the region towards Armenia. The Red Cross and Russian peacekeepers will provide assistance. Power in the area is also scheduled to be back on later this weekend.
Humanitarian aid supplies are also being transported from Armenia to Stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno-Karabakh. News agency Reuters He confirmed that the Red Cross convoy is on its way to the affected area.
Russia, which helped broker the truce, says Armenian fighters in Nagorno-Karabakh have surrendered their weapons. This includes eight hundred rifles and six armored vehicles. This operation is supervised by the Russian army present in the region, which has a strength of about 2,000 soldiers.
There has been a dispute for decades over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh between neighbors Armenia and Azerbaijan. About 120,000 ethnic Armenians live in the region.
Nagorno-Karabakh is considered part of Azerbaijan internationally, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, Armenian separatists took control of the region. This led to several armed conflicts.
Azerbaijan began a new military operation on Tuesday to regain control of the region. The two sides agreed to a ceasefire the next day. This came after Russian mediation. An official in Nagorno-Karabakh estimates the death toll at more than 200 people.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke of a “successful anti-terrorism operation” after the attack. The Azerbaijani army is much stronger than that of Armenia, which is why Yerevan quickly agreed to a ceasefire.
Azerbaijan’s goal appears to be to integrate Nagorno-Karabakh into the country. In a speech to the United Nations, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said his country would treat Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh “as equal citizens.”
