MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. The ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh has been broken for the first time since hostilities were halted and the Russian peacekeeping operation started in the region, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a bulletin on Saturday.

"The Russian peacekeeping contingent continue its mission in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Russian peacemakers monitor the situation and control the ceasefire round-the-clock at 23 observation posts. On December 11, one incident of ceasefire violation was recorded in Hadrut district," the bulletin says.

Earlier in the day, Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported that Azerbaijan had launched an offensive in southern Karabakh in the direction of villages of Hin Taghe and Khtsaberd.

On November 9, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh starting from November 10. The Russian leader said the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides would maintain the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers would be deployed to the region.