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“Many civilians in the city have been injured, civil infrastructure has been damaged,” Armenian Hovhanisian, a spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry, wrote on Facebook, but did not provide further details.
The fight between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh continues on Friday despite calls for a ceasefire, and French President Emmanuel Macron has warned Turkey about the alleged deployment of jihadists in the conflict zone.
According to Macron, the intelligence found that 300 fighters from “jihadist groups” in Syria went to Azerbaijan through Turkey. The French president said he had “crossed the red line, which is unacceptable” and asked Ankara to explain.
In the battles for the ethnic Armenian province of Nagorno-Karabakh, which seceded from Azerbaijan during a fierce war in the 1990s, Ankara supports its former ally Baku.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has raged for decades, and the new fighting that broke out on Sunday is the most intense in many years.
Almost 200 people, including more than 30 civilians, have died in recent fighting. It is feared that the fighting will escalate into a comprehensive multi-front war and involve the region’s powers in Turkey and Russia.
As fighting continued on Friday’s sixth day, the Nagorno-Karabakh separatist government’s Defense Ministry said 54 more of its soldiers had been killed.
The report says that after a “relatively quieter night” a fight is taking place across the front line.
The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry has also reported that fighting continues. Both parties claim that the opponent suffered heavy losses.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have previously ruled out talks.
Still, on Friday, Armenia said it was ready to work with international mediators to negotiate a ceasefire with Azerbaijan in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Armenia’s Foreign Ministry said Yerevan was willing to work with France, Russia and the United States as intermediaries in the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to “restore a ceasefire regime.”
Russia, USA and France call for negotiations
Russia and western countries have pushed for a ceasefire and immediate talks, while Turkey has shown strong support for Baku and accused Armenia of occupying Azerbaijani lands.
Macron warned Ankara on Thursday at the European Union summit in Brussels. He called on “all NATO partners to acknowledge the existence of such behavior by a NATO member.”
In a joint statement on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Macron called on the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders to resume talks on a Nagorno-Karabakh agreement immediately and unconditionally.
Russia has also hinted that it is making progress on diplomatic efforts with Turkey. According to Moscow, she and Turkish Foreign Ministers Sergei Lavrov and Mevlut Cavusoglu have confirmed their willingness to “close coordination” to stabilize the situation.
Yerevan is part of the Moscow-led military alliance of the former Soviet republics and accuses Turkey of directly supporting Azerbaijan: deploying planes and sending mercenaries from northern Syria to fight in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia has confirmed the deaths of 158 of its soldiers and 13 civilians since Sunday. Azerbaijan did not report the deaths of any soldiers, but said 19 civilians were killed in the Armenian shooting.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s declared independence from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s sparked a war that claimed 30,000 lives. lives. However, the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh is not recognized by any state, not even by Armenia.
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh declared a state of war and military mobilization on Sunday, while Azerbaijan introduced the military regime and a curfew in major cities.
Negotiations to resolve the conflict have stalled since the 1994 ceasefire agreement.
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