Daily US Times: Armenia and Azerbaijan have defied calls for a ceasefire after the worst fighting in decades between the two over disputed territory.
The US, Russia and France jointly condemned the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, in the southern Caucasus.
But Turkey – an ally of Azerbaijan – dismissed demands for a ceasefire.
Nagorno-Karabakh is officially part of Azerbaijan but the region is governed by separatist ethnic Armenians. Years of negotiations between the two countries have never resulted in a peace treaty.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a war in 1988-94 over the territory. Armenia backs the self-declared republic but never officially recognised it.
Despite mounting international concern, heavy shelling persisted overnight in the region’s main city.
At least 100 people have reportedly been killed so far with hundreds wounded in the latest flare-up.
What are international powers saying?
Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities” in their statement.
The statement said: “We also call on the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to immediately commit themselves to resume negotiations on the substance of the settlement in good faith and without preconditions.”
The three countries were speaking as co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, which was founded in the early 1990s to try to find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Russia is part of a military alliance with Armenia and has a military base in the country but it also has close ties to the government of Azerbaijan.
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