Hopes for a Russian-brokered ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan were dashed after each side accused the other side of firing on civilian areas and two weeks of fierce clashes.
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said overnight shelling by the Armenian army on Ganja, the country’s second-largest city, had killed seven children and wounded 33, including children, less than 24 hours after fighting ceased.
One witness said they woke up to a huge explosion that ripped through nine apartments. “Everything I’ve done for my whole life is ruined,” said Zagit Aliyev, 68.
After a two-week battle over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region after marathon talks in Moscow, the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers approved a ceasefire agreement to exchange prisoners and the bodies of those killed.
The war officially broke out on Saturday afternoon, but both sides immediately accused each other of violations.
The Defense Ministry of the broken region said on Sunday that Armenian forces were respecting the humanitarian ceasefire and accused Azerbaijan of firing on civilian areas.
It claims that the Armenian military is responsible for the shelling, which is “absolutely false.”
Nagorno-Karabakh leader Areik Hartuanyan on Sunday called the situation “calm”, but said the ceasefire was uncertain.
Herutunia spokesman Vahram Pogosian said the overnight shooting in Stepnecart was “disrespectful of the agreements reached in Moscow”, and called on the international community to recognize the province’s independence as a way to end the fighting.
A new battle erupted late last month, resulting in a long-running disagreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. The disputed area is an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan with a population of about 150,000, which fell out of Azerbaijan’s control during the 1990s war, in which about 30,000 people were killed.
Following the return of the war, Turkey, which strongly backs Azerbaijan and Russia, which has a military pact with Armenia, fears a full-blown war of the era.
World leaders, including Armenia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his French counterpart, Emanuel Macron, have condemned the deployment of pro-Turkish fighters from Syria and Libya to boost Azerbaijan’s military.
A senior Azerbaijani official said on Saturday that the conflict was only temporary, and said there was no intention to back Baku in an effort to regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh.
