On the front lines of Europe’s newest war

A group of Armenian soldiers stand guard on the road towards the village. ‘It’s not safe to go ahead,’ one says, slinging his Kalashnikov across his shoulder and motioning for our van to pull over. ‘They were shelling the highway just 15 minutes ago.’ In the distance, there’s the unmistakable thunder of artillery and smoke rising from the side of the mountains. Beyond them is the border with Azerbaijan from where, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, a massive barrage was unleashed on towns and cities across Armenia.

The offensive is the most dramatic escalation since the two former Soviet republics fought a brutal and bloody war two years ago, leaving more than 5,000 dead on both sides. There are fears of a return to full-scale fighting. Azerbaijan insists it is simply responding to being under attack. ‘All responsibility for the current provocations lay with the political-military leadership of Armenia,’ Layla Abdullayeva, the spokeswoman for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs tells me.