Intense fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues as the warring parties' top diplomats met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington DC for talks to reach a ceasefire or at least de-escalate tensions.
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Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan held separate meetings with Pompeo.
US President Donald Trump said "really good progress" was being made but declined to get into details.
He praised the Armenian-American community.
"We're gonna help them," he said in the Oval Office.
The two former Soviet republics bordering Iran have been engaged in a flare-up over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, controlled for decades by Christian Armenian troops but considered by the United Nations as part of predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan.
With at least about 1000 people reported killed in recent weeks, it is their bloodiest conflict since they fought a war over the territory in the late 1980s and early 1990s against the backdrop of the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
"Currently local battles are taking place in all directions of the front line," Armenian military spokesperson Shushan Stepanyan said in a statement on Facebook.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that almost 5000 people had been killed in the recent fighting.
As of Thursday, Armenia officially reported that 874 soldiers had been killed, along with more than 30 civilians.
The Azerbaijani side has said 63 civilians have died but has not provided any figures for its military.
Australian Associated Press
