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The leadership of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) said on Thursday that it had agreed a ceasefire with Azerbaijan but that key details, including the surrender of weapons, still needed to be worked out.

David Babayan, an adviser to Artsakh President Samvel Shahramanyan, told Reuters that Karabakh Armenians felt abandoned by Russia, the West and Armenia.

He said many important issues had not yet been agreed with Azerbaijan, which sent troops backed by artillery strikes into Armenian-controlled Karabakh on Tuesday in an attempt to bring the breakaway region to heel by force.

"We have agreement on the cessation of military action, but we await a final agreement - talks are going on, we'll see," Babayan said by phone. "We need to talk through many questions and issues."

"There has not been a final agreement yet," Babayan said.

Under a ceasefire agreement, outlined a day earlier by Azerbaijan and the Russian Defence Ministry, which has peacekeepers on the ground, Artsakh's ethnic Armenian forces are meant to disband and disarm.

But when asked about giving up weapons, Babayan said his people could not be left to die and so would need security guarantees first.

"A whole host of questions still need to be resolved," said Babayan. "We do not know what guarantee of security our people will get - this needs to be resolved."