Thousands of people affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will receive urgent medical supplies, food and safer shelters from a new UK aid package, announced today by the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

The conflict escalated on 27 September. Since then, tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, with growing numbers of civilian casualties and damage to homes and vital infrastructure.

Now much-needed medical supplies, including dressing kits and bandages, will be provided for civilians caught up in the crisis through a new £1 million UK aid package, in response to an appeal by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). People injured in the fighting, including children caught in the crossfire, will receive life-saving treatment at health facilities or from emergency responders supported by the ICRC.

Many of those affected have limited access to food and other essentials, and UK support will provide blankets, food parcels and basic hygiene items to vulnerable communities near to the fighting.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:

Today’s UK aid package will help deliver vital food, medicine and urgent healthcare to those affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We continue to urge both sides to engage with the OSCE Minsk group and seek a peaceful, negotiated, political solution which the people of the region so desperately need.

ICRC Regional Director for EURASIA, Martin Schuepp said:

The ICRC is most grateful to the UK for its contribution to the ICRC’s response in the region. The high-quality funding the ICRC receives from its donors, including the UK, enables the ICRC to deliver neutral, impartial and independent action to those affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence.

UK support will also help to improve the quality of often overcrowded shelters by installing or improving water tanks and toilets. It will also ensure the shelters are suitably equipped to keep warm as the region’s bitter winter approaches.

The UK, along with Canada, has repeatedly called for both sides to work towards a peaceful, political resolution to the conflict through the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk process and has expressed its full support for the work of the Minsk Group.

• The new funding is in addition to our core funding to ICRC. In recent years, the UK has been the second largest donor globally to the ICRC, helping them to respond quickly to situations of armed conflict.

• The ICRC is an independent, neutral organisation ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence.