⁍ Azerbaijan’s president ruled out making any concessions to Armenia on Friday ahead of talks aimed at halting the deadliest fighting in the South Caucasus region for more than 25 years.

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⁍ President Ilham Aliyev’s uncompromising position appeared to leave little room for de-escalation as the Azeri and Armenian foreign ministers arrived in Moscow.

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⁍ The talks were expected to be the first diplomatic contact between the enemies since fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave erupted on Sept. 27.

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– The US, Russia, and France are trying to bring an end to the worst fighting in a quarter-century between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the separatist enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. On Friday, foreign ministers from the two countries will meet in Moscow, but Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev says his country won’t make any concessions to Armenia, Reuters reports. “Let those holding talks in Moscow know that it’s our territory and we won’t be making any concessions,” Aliyev said. “We are winning and will get our territory back and ensure our territorial integrity. Let them abandon our territory in peace.” The fighting has killed more than 300 people since Sept. 27. France, Russia, and the US launched a peace drive Thursday in Geneva, where they were joined by the foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. “We are moving towards a truce soon even if the situation is still fragile,” French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said. But Turkey said diplomacy would succeed only if it ensured a withdrawal of Armenian forces from Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians regard as part of their historic homeland. “It is almost certain to fail if it doesn’t also involve a detailed plan to end the occupation,” Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told Al Jazeera. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Friday Nagorno-Karabakh was on the verge of a “humanitarian disaster.”