Just hours after an agreement to implement a new humanitarian ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh went into effect, Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other of violating the agreement on Sunday (October 18).
In a Twitter message earlier Sunday, the Armenian Defense Ministry accused Azerbaijan of violating the new ceasefire agreement in the Nagorno-Karabakh region by firing artillery shells and rockets.
In a subsequent statement, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said, “The enemy opened fire with mortars and artillery in the vicinity of the city of Jebrail, as well as on villages in the region.” The statement added that the Azerbaijani military “took appropriate retaliatory measures.
Azerbaijan and Armenia earlier announced that they had agreed to a new cease-fire starting Sunday, the second attempt in a week to ease nearly three weeks of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said later on Saturday, “The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan have agreed to implement a humanitarian ceasefire starting at 00:00 local time on October 18.”
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry issued the same statement.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the announcement after a phone call with his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts. Both Lavrov and French President Emmanuel Macron stressed the need for both sides to strictly adhere to the ceasefire agreement.
Earlier on Saturday, Azerbaijan and Armenia accused each other of new attacks, further signaling an escalation of violence in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region in violation of a Russian-brokered ceasefire agreement reached a week earlier.
At the same time, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) called on both sides Saturday for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. The statement said that the fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region has killed, injured and displaced children, forcing them to endure weeks of “extreme psychological trauma and suffering.
The ongoing fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia, which began on September 27, has claimed hundreds of lives. It is the largest escalation of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh in decades since the 1994 ceasefire.
During the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, this predominantly Armenian region declared its independence from Azerbaijan, sparking a war that claimed 30,000 lives before the 1994 ceasefire. However, this independence has yet to be recognized by the international community.
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