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They call it the Road of Life, as it is the only route connecting 120,000 ethnic Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) with the Republic of Armenia.

But for nearly nine months the Lachin Corridor has been blocked by Azerbaijani authorities, resulting in severe shortages of food, medication, hygiene products and fuel in the breakaway region, BBC South Caucasus correspondent Rayhan Demytrie says in a report.

Eighteen-year old Hayk is standing on the balcony of a modest hotel in Goris on the Armenian side of the border with Azerbaijan, speaking to his mother on a video call.

"No eggs, no sugar, there are no sweets at all, bread is being rationed, got up at 04:00 the other day to stand in the queue," says his mother, speaking from the Karabakh town of Martakert.

Hayk is not his real name. I have changed it for his own safety.

Armenians are unable to reach their families on the other side of the Lachin Corridor because it has been blocked by Azerbaijan since December.

No independent media have been able to reach Nagorno-Karabakh. Photos and videos of empty shops have been circulating on social media.

"People are standing in queues for hours to get minimal food rations. People are fainting in the bread queues," local journalist Irina Hayrapetyan says in a recorded voice message from inside the ethnic Armenian enclave.

"We have no fuel for transport and people have to walk many kilometres by foot to stand in queues to buy whatever they can to feed their families."

Local authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh say one in three deaths is due to malnutrition.

"I know a case when a pregnant woman lost her child because there was no petrol to get her to hospital," says Hayk's mother.

She speaks of no gas since March, no fuel, no medication - not even shampoo - and regular power cuts. With winter coming it will get worse.

Her son feels hatred, fear and despair: "Because I understand sooner or later my home, my city, my country will be taken by Azerbaijan."

Azerbaijan blocked the road to Nagorno-Karabakh's regional capital Stepanakert (known in Azerbaijan as Khandendi) with government-backed environmental activists last December.

In April, Azerbaijan installed its own military checkpoint at the entrance to the Lachin Corridor justifying its "sovereign right" and "full restoration of its territorial integrity". It accused Armenia of using the road to bring in military supplies, which Armenia denies.