“The United States is deeply concerned by Azerbaijan’s military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh and calls on Azerbaijan to cease these actions immediately,” he said in a statement. “These actions are worsening an already dire humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and undermine prospects for peace.”
“As we have previously made clear to Azerbaijan, the use of force to resolve disputes is unacceptable and runs counter to efforts to create conditions for a just and dignified peace in the region,” added Blinken, who spoke with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian by phone earlier in the day.
Blinken conveyed this message to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, according to the U.S. State Department’s readout of their call.
“The Secretary noted President Aliyev’s expressed readiness to halt military actions and for representatives of Azerbaijan and the population of Nagorno-Karabakh to meet, and he underscored the need for immediate implementation,” said the department spokesman, Matthew Miller.
Karabakh’s leadership offered to negotiate with Baku a few hours after the outbreak of the hostilities. Aliyev’s office said it is ready to meet with Karabakh Armenian representatives in the Azerbaijani town of Yevlakh. But it stressed at the same time that the Azerbaijani offensive will continue unless the Karabakh Armenians disband their government bodies and armed forces.
The Karabakh army reported at around midnight that Azerbaijani forces are continuing to shell and attack their positions along “the line of contact.” That was followed by news reports of renewed Azerbaijani shelling of Stepanakert.
The leaders of France, Germany and the European Union also urged an immediate halt to the Azerbaijani offensive. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Baku must “immediately stop the attacks and return to diplomacy.”
Pashinian also phoned French President Emmanuel Macron. According to an Armenian government statement, Macron told him that Paris will initiate an emergency session of the UN Security Council on the situation in Karabakh. The Russian TASS news agency afterwards cited an unnamed UN source as saying that the session will take place on Thursday.