Two Armenian soldiers reported killed in clash with Azerbaijan

YEREVAN, Armenia — Two Armenian servicemen were killed by shelling on the tense border with Azerbaijan on Friday morning, the country’s Ministry of Defense said, amid warnings the neighboring South Caucasus nations could be spiraling toward another full-blown war.

“There are two killed in action and one wounded on the Armenian side as a result of Azerbaijani armed forces’ fire at the Armenian combat outposts” near the village of Sotk, officials said in a statement. The ministry later added that “the intensity of fire … has decreased.” It said it urged citizens not to “disseminate unverified and unreliable information”on the attack.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said its forces “are taking decisive retaliatory measures” after troops were targeted by “attack UAVs” launched from positions around Sotk, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles. Two of its servicemen were reportedly injured.

The bloodshed comes just weeks after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned that a new war with Azerbaijan “is very likely” given that negotiations on a lasting peace deal are stalling. Talks brokered by the U.S., the EU and Russia in recent months have failed to achieve a consensus, with the two sides at odds over the future of the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh — inside Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized borders but controlled since a war that followed the fall of the Soviet Union by its ethnic Armenian population.

In 2020, Azerbaijan launched an offensive to take back swathes of territory around Nagorno-Karabakh, and has since installed a checkpoint on what was the only road linking the mountainous territory to Armenia. Aid organizations including the Red Cross have since said they are unable to bring supplies of food and fuel in or out, and there are warnings a humanitarian catastrophe is now unfolding.

Sotk, inside Armenia’s border, also came under heavy fire a year ago when Azerbaijani troops launched an incursion into the country. In the wake of those clashes, the EU deployed a civilian monitoring mission to the area.

Azerbaijan denies the claims it is orchestrating a blockade, insisting the Karabakh Armenians should lay down their weapons, accept aid from inside Azerbaijan and agree to being governed as part of the country.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, however, has reiterated that Washington believes a peace agreement “is still within reach,” urging both sides to continue negotiations.