The European Union increased its humanitarian assistance for people in Karabakh to 5 million euros ($5.3 million), the European Commission announced Tuesday.
"We must be prepared to support the thousands who have decided to flee Nagorno-Karabakh, especially as the upcoming winter is likely to expose the refugees to additional challenges," EU Crisis Commissioner Janez Lenarcic said.
"The EU is drastically stepping up its humanitarian aid in the region to provide emergency relief to people in need," he added.
Last week the commission announced a first aid tranche of 500,000 euros.
Brussels hopes the financial support will benefit around 25,000 people in the region by providing cash assistance, shelter and food through aid organizations active on the ground.
The EU also called on Azerbaijan to lay out its plan to secure the rights of ethnic Armenians in Karabakh as senior officials from the Caucasus foes held talks after Baku recaptured the disputed territory.
Brussels hosted national security advisors from Azerbaijan and Armenia, along with those of France and Germany, after Baku's lightning offensive last week.
"The EU stressed the need for transparency and access for international humanitarian and human rights actors and for more detail on Baku's vision for Karabakh Armenians' future in Azerbaijan," an EU statement said.
Brussels said the talks "allowed for intense exchanges between participants on the relevance of a possible meeting of the leaders" of Azerbaijan and Armenia at a European summit in the Spanish city of Granada on Oct. 5.
Prior to Baku's counterterrorism operation, the EU had been involved in mediation efforts aimed at securing an enduring peace between the two feuding neighbors.
The statement said the representatives from Armenia and Azerbaijan had discussed "possible concrete steps" to advance the peace process including border delimitation, and security, connectivity and humanitarian issues.
"Concrete action and decisive compromise solutions are needed on all tracks of the normalization process," the EU said.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan said it is ready to treat victims of an explosion in Karabakh.
Hospitals in several districts are prepared to treat a large number of patients following an unexplained explosion at a petrol station which killed at least 20 and injured hundreds, Azerbaijani presidential adviser Hikmet Hajiyev said, according to media reports.
Thousands of residents are now fleeing to neighboring Armenia, some of whom were queueing for petrol when the explosion occurred.
