Armenia has reported that at least 49 of its soldiers had been killed in fighting with Azerbaijan.

Both nations have attributed the commencement of hostilities to the other.

The intensification of tensions between the countries of the south Caucasus has fueled fears that a full-scale war could erupt between the former Soviet republics.

Several towns near the border with Azerbaijan were shelled early Tuesday morning, according to Armenia.

It stated that it has replied to Azerbaijan’s “extensive provocation.”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of bombing Armenian towns because it refused to negotiate over the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian territory within Azerbaijan.

“The intensity of hostilities has dropped, but Azerbaijani attacks continue on one or two fronts,” Mr. Pashinyan said in an address to the Armenian parliament, according to Russian media.

Recent European Union-sponsored talks in Brussels with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev, he claimed, revealed Azerbaijan’s unyielding position.

Meanwhile, Azerbaijan said Armenia assaulted it.

It said that Armenian soldiers had conducted intelligence operations on its border, transferred weaponry into the region, and laid mines.

Russia, which has some 2,000 soldiers stationed in the region as part of an earlier peace agreement, acted swiftly to arrange a ceasefire.

There has been a divide between the neighboring countries for decades.

Armenia is a landlocked country on the eastern border of Turkey, which has a western border with Azerbaijan, while Azerbaijan shares an eastern border with the Caspian Sea.

In the 1980s, while both countries were a part of the Soviet Union, conflict first arose.

Armenian soldiers seized the area near Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan partially reclaimed in 2020 after six weeks of warfare that claimed over 6,600 lives.

A ceasefire brokered by Russia brought an end to the violence, and thousands of refugees returned to their homes.

Russia and Europe have both urged nations to exercise prudence.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the most recent crisis “should be handled entirely through political and diplomatic means.”

President of the European Council Charles Mischel also asked Mr. Pasyhinyan to avert further escalation.