"We condemn these recent ceasefire violations and call upon the sides to take all necessary measures to prevent any further escalation in the conflict zone", - the statement says.

The statement also reports that there are contradictory reports regarding the targets of these recent strikes, as well as about casualties sustained and damages inflicted: "The Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office continue to collect further data and analysis to gain more complete and accurate information about the current situation".

Note that in order to prevent the threat to Azerbaijani aerial vehicles and suppress the enemy's activism Azerbaijani Armed Forces have destroyed OSA surface-to-air missile system, a re-supply vehicle and personnel of the Armenian Armed Forces on May 15, said Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry.

Moreover, starting from the evening on May 16 and during the night, the Armenian armed forces subjected to intensive fire from the mortars of various calibers the positions of the Azerbaijan Armed Forces in the Agdam direction of the front and human settlements in the depth of defense. Ministry of Defence declares that Azerbaijan Armed Forces fully control operational situation.

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict entered its modern phase when the Armenian SRR made territorial claims against the Azerbaijani SSR in 1988.

A fierce war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan. As a result of the war, Armenian Armed Forces occupied some 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory which includes Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent districts Lachin, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli and Zangilan), and over a million Azerbaijanis became refugees and internally displaced people.

The military operations finally came to an end when Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in Bishkek in 1994.

Dealing with the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is the OSCE Minsk Group, which was created after the meeting of the CSCE (OSCE after the Budapest summit held in December 1994) Ministerial Council in Helsinki on 24 March 1992. The Group’s members include Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia, the United States, France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belarus, Finland and Sweden.

Besides, the OSCE Minsk Group has a co-chairmanship institution, comprised of Russian, the US and French co-chairs, which began operating in 1996.

Resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884 of the UN Security Council, which were passed in short intervals in 1993, and other resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly, PACE, OSCE, OIC, and other organizations require Armenia to unconditionally withdraw its troops from Nagorno-Karabakh.

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