BAKU (Sputnik) — Azerbaijan's military has destroyed 10 Armenian tanks in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh during nighttime clashes early on Sunday, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Sunday.
"The Armenian side lost 10 tanks and personnel while trying to recapture territories previously liberated by Azerbaijani Armed Forces," Defense Ministry spokesman Vagif Dargahli said.
On Saturday, Armenia and Azerbaijan noted a sharp escalation of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, with both sides accusing each other of violating the ceasefire that had been in place since 1994.
The Armenian side is escalating the situation despite the Russian-led initiative to resume the ceasefire from 15:00 p.m. Baku time (11:00 GMT), the spokesman added.
The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the Armenian-dominated autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. In September 2015, the conflict escalated, with the sides blaming each other for violating the truce.
