The separatist Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh said on Wednesday that they had agreed to ceasefire terms proposed by Russian peacekeepers.

According to a statement posted on Facebook, the ceasefire agreement, which comes into effect at 13:00 local time on Wednesday, means that separatist forces will disband and disarm. The statement also called for the tactical Armenian Forces to withdraw from Karabakh.

Talks on the future of the region and the Armenians living there will be held on Thursday between representatives of the Armenian population and Azerbaijani authorities, the statement said.

Baku had also demanded that the separatist political authorities in Karabakh, which is recognized internationally as part of Azerbaijan, also dissolve, before talks could take place on the future of the region, which Azerbaijan wants to fully integrate.

Russian media reports that this development was achieved thanks to the intervention of Russian forces in the region. The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed Armenian claims that Russia has not done enough to prevent fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh, saying the issue is about Azerbaijan’s actions on its soil.

The forces of Azerbaijan shelled Nagorno-Karabakh on Wednesday, killing at least 32 people, according to Armenia, and wounding many more in the breakaway region controlled by ethnic Armenians, despite calls from Russia and the United States for the fighting to end.

Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia continues contacts with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and ethnic Armenians in Karabakh. He clarified, however, that the time of the telephone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has not yet been determined.

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UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, had earlier called for an immediate end to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, against which Azerbaijan launched a new attack yesterday, Tuesday, as a result of which at least 29 people have been killed so far.

Three years after a war ended in Armenia’s defeat, yesterday’s flare-up of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with France calling for an emergency meeting of the Security Council.

That meeting could take place in the coming days, two diplomatic sources told AFP, citing Thursday as a possible date.

At least 32 people have been killed in the clashes. The separatists of the enclave earlier spoke of 27 dead, including two civilians, and more than 200 injured, while approximately 7,000 residents of 16 areas were evacuated from their homes. Azerbaijan pointed out that two civilians were killed in the areas it controls.

The separatists said that in many cities of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as in the capital of Stepanakert, there is heavy fire that also targets civilian infrastructure. Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces indicated that they used artillery, rockets, attack drones, and aircraft, and announced that they had captured 60 Armenian positions.

Yerevan has denounced a widespread attack aimed at ethnic cleansing and has assured that it has no troops in Nagorno-Karabakh, implying that the separatists are alone against Azeri troops.

Armenia expects Russia, a guarantor of the 2020 ceasefire that has peacekeeping forces in the region, to act and stop the Azeri offensive. Russia has expressed its concern over the violent escalation of the situation and announced that it is trying to bring Armenia and Azerbaijan back “to the negotiating table”.

Turkey, on the other hand, which referred to the concerns that led Azerbaijan to take military action as “legitimate” also requested the continuation of the negotiation process between the two countries.

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