The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday, September 18 that it had sent humanitarian convoys to Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia and Azerbaijan simultaneously.

"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is today bringing shipments of wheat flour and essential medical items to people in need via the Lachin Corridor and the Aghdam road," it said in a statement referring to the roads linking Karabakh to Armenia and Azerbaijan.

However, the Lachin road, which connects Armenia and Karabakh, did not immediately reopen, with Armenian and French aid convoys sent weeks earlier continuing to idle at the beginning of the corridor.

Since December 12, 2022, the sole road connecting Nagorno Karabakh to Armenia - the Lachin Corridor - has been blocked by Azerbaijan. Baku tightened the blockade on June 15, 2023, banning emergency relief supplies that were carried out by Russian peacekeepers and the International Committee of the Red Cross through the sole road connecting Karabakh to Armenia and the outside world. The move aggravated the shortages of food, medicine and other essential items experienced by the region’s population. On August 15, Karabakh Human Rights Defender’s office reported the first case of death from starvation.