A United Nations mission arrived for the first time in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan on Sunday to assess humanitarian needs of ethnic Armenians fleeing the enclave.

Later on Sunday, an Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesperson told Agence France-Presse that the mission had visited a checkpoint at the Karabakh border with Armenia.

He said the mission — headed by the UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Vladanka Andreeva — was expected to hold a press conference on Monday.

Nearly all of Karabakh's estimated 120,000 residents have fled the territory, sparking a refugee crisis in Armenia.

An AFP journalist at a border crossing along the Lachin corridor that links Karabakh with Armenia, saw only one car arrive from the now-deserted enclave.

Sergei Astsaryan, 40, said he was among the last Armenians to leave the region.

"I have no idea of where to go, maybe Europe," he told AFP, adding however that he hoped many of the refugees would return if Azerbaijan "gives guarantees, provides help."

"I've talked to Azerbaijani police and they said there would be no problems if we want to return, that we can live in our homes," he said.

The exodus followed Azerbaijan's defeat of Armenian separatists, who had controlled the region for three decades, in a one-day military offensive last week.

The separatists agreed to disarm, dissolve their government and reintegrate with Baku.

The Azerbaijani presidency said Baku's migration service began operating in Karabakh's main city of Khankendi (Stepanakert in Armenian) to register Armenian residents to ensure their "sustainable reintegration… into the Azerbaijani society," promising them the "patronage of the Azerbaijani state."

WITH AFP