'Regional peace is our shared interest': Georgian PM proposes Armenian-Azerbaijani summit in Tbilisi

The Georgian prime minister has offered his country's maximum support to ending the hostilities over Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh).

Giorgi Zakharia proposed a meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders in Tbilisi, considering regional security a "shared interest".

"The establishment of peace in the region within the shortest possible timeframes is our shared interest. There is a common understanding that a further escalation may negatively impact regional security," he said in a statement quoted by Netgazeti.ge.

Meantime, Zakharia called upon the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship and the international stakeholders to maximum prevent the escalation of the conflict and to resume the dialogue.

"Our country, as you are aware, maintains good-neighborly relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Armenian and Azerbaijani citizens have historically played an important role for the development and strengthening of our country - and the region in general. Meantime, their peaceful co-existence is a good example that the Georgians, Armenians and Azerbaijanis can make the South Caucasus a peaceful and developing region," he added.

Azerbaijan launched large-scale offensives along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact on Sunday, targeting also the civilian population. In subsequent retaliatory operations to repel the attacks, the Artsakh defense forces shot down seven helicopters, 72 UAVs, 137 units of armored vehicles (mainly tanks), one warplane, 82 transport vehicles and four BTR-82A armored personnel carriers.

Azerbaijan's military has 790 losses in manpower as of Wednesday morning. Armenia has reported 80 casualties; an estimated 200 troops were wounded in the fighting.

The adversary expanded the operations also to Armenia late on Tuesday One civilian death was reported in Vardenis (Gegharkunik region) in the wake of the attacks.  

Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh have declared martial law and a general mobilization since Sunday.