Pashinyan: At least 49 Armenian soldiers killed in clashes with Azerbaijan

At least 49 Armenian soldiers have been killed in the latest border clashes with Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan blame each other for the latest escalation in the decades-long dispute over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In a speech before the Armenian parliament, Pashinyan said that Baku had attacked Armenian positions overnight and that fighting was ongoing.

"At the moment we have 49 [soldiers] killed and unfortunately that is not the final number," Pashinyan told parliament, according to Free Europe. "Immediately after midnight (local time) on Tuesday, Azerbaijan launched intense shelling, with artillery and large-caliber firearms, on Armenian military positions in the direction of the cities of Goris, Sotk and Jermuk," the Ministry of Defense of Armenia said.

Azerbaijan's defense ministry accused Armenia of "large-scale subversive acts" near the border districts of Dashkesan, Kelbayar and Lachin, adding that their military positions had been opened fire, including with trench mortars.

He called on Russia, France and the US to react

Pashinyan spoke with the Presidents of Russia and France, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron, and the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, and asked them to react to "Azerbaijan's aggression", it was announced today in Yerevan.

During those separate meetings, Pashinyan said he hoped for "an appropriate response from the international community" as clashes on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border are ongoing, according to an Armenian government statement.

The Ministry of Defense of Armenia also announced that Moscow and Yerevan undertook to take measures to "stabilize the situation" on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Armenian Defense Minister Souren Papikian, in a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, "explained the situation that arose as a result of Azerbaijan's large-scale aggression."

The ministers "agreed to take the necessary measures to stabilize the situation", according to the statement.

On the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, fighting is taking place today, and forces from Baku, with the support of cannons and drones, are trying to "advance" towards Armenian territory, according to Yerevan.