Stepanakert: Fights in the zone of the Karabakh conflict continue

The situation in the conflict zone sharply worsened on the night of Saturday

The battles in the zone of the Karabakh conflict do not cease, the Ministry of Defense of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) said on Sunday.

The NKR argues that the Azerbaijani side continued the fighting in the south direction of the contact line starting from 5 am Moscow time. The Armed Forces of Azerbaijan use rocket arrangements and armored vehicles; NKR units take the necessary response steps, noted in the defense department of the republic.

The situation in the zone of the Karabakh conflict escalated on the night of Saturday . The parties accuse each other of violation of a truce.

According to the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, 12 Azerbaijani military personnel were killed during the clashes. 18 troops were killed on the Armenian side, another 35 were injured, said Armenia President Serge Sargsyan. There is also evidence of two victims among the civilian population.

Countries - co -chairs of the Minsk OSCE group, heading the process of peaceful resolution of the conflict in Nagorno -Karabakh, Russia, the USA and France, expressed "deep concern".

To the immediate cessation of hostilities, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the head of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Shoigu, discussed the situation in the conflict zone with their colleagues in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called on the parties to return to the table of peaceful negotiations - under the auspices of the OSCE. “There is no military way to resolve the situation ,” Kerry emphasized.

The Supreme Representative of the EU on foreign policy Federica Mogherini called reports of the resumed clashes "extremely anxious", indicating the need to refrain from actions or statements that will lead to further escalation.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan due to Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mainly by Armenians, began in February 1988, when the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region announced the exit from the Azerbaijan SSR. In September 1991, in Stepanakert, the creation of the republic was announced. About 30 thousand people were killed during the armed conflict. There is still no peace treaty, in 1994 an agreement was reached on the ceasefire.