EU optimistic about peace prospects after high-stakes Armenia-Azerbaijan talks.

European Council President Charles Michel has said that an end to decades of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan could be in sight following negotiations between the two sides. Michel encouraged direct negotiations between Baku and the ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, an unrecognized breakaway region over which the two former Soviet republics fought a brutal war in 2020. The two sides have made clear progress in talks over unblocking transport links and suggested a prisoner exchange could be carried out in the coming days.