Officials from Stepanakert and Baku reached an agreement Thursday for Azerbaijan to supply food and fuel to Nagorno-Karabakh.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s delegation “noted a particular need for fuel” and “asked for humanitarian aid in the form of foodstuffs” at a meeting in the town of Yevlakh, Azerbaijan’s presidency said in a statement, adding: “Their request was received positively.”
It was not immediately clear when desperately needed food and fuel would reach Nagorno-Karabakh’s roughly 120,000 Armenians, who have been pushed to the brink of famine by Azerbaijan’s more than nine-month blockade.
The Nagorno-Karabakh government has so far not commented publicly on Thursday’s meeting, which it agreed to in a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal Wednesday that will also see the Artsakh Defense Army fully dissolved.
Baku said Stepanakert had agreed to further meetings “in the near future,” but again did not specify a timeline.
The ceasefire came just 24 hours after Azerbaijan launched strikes across Nagorno-Karabakh, marking the worst outbreak of hostilities in the region since the 2020 war.
More than 200 people have been killed and 400 wounded, according to the latest update Wednesday from the Nagorno-Karabakh government. Those figures include both civilian and military casualties and are likely to rise further.
More than 7,000 civilians have been evacuated or fled from villages reportedly seized by Azerbaijani troops. Thousands of displaced people have temporarily relocated to the non-functioning Stepanakert airport, which is controlled by Russian peacekeepers.
Thousands more are believed to remain in the towns of Martakert and Martuni, which Azerbaijani forces have cut off from Stepanakert.
Read more: Officials meet for ‘reintegration talks’ as Karabakh death toll tops 200
