News, reports, media on combat in Karabakh. October 26, 2020

“After the President’s speech, I thought, why do we need mediators? The Armenians want to say something new, let them speak … directly, ”former Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Tofig Zulfugarov wrote on his Facebook page.

Artsrun Hovhannisyan stated that the situation is under control. He also said that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces managed to take the settlement of Kubatlu in Karabakh.

During the day, according to a representative of the Ministry of Defense, the Azerbaijani military “together with terrorist groups and units of other countries, launched large-scale attacks in several directions.” In this connection, the Armenian units sometimes retreated in order to avoid human casualties. But, according to Hovhannisyan, the enemy did not achieve much success, despite the fact that he uses many times superior forces in battle.

As the representative of the Armenian Defense Ministry stated, at the same time the settlements of Karabakh were subjected to shelling.

“From tomorrow, a detachment of 13 women, including myself, will begin training. In a few days we will set off to defend the borders of our Motherland. We cannot concede either our Motherland or our dignity to the enemy, ”Anna Hakobyan wrote on her Facebook page.

On October 5, the son of the Prime Minister, Ashot Pashinyan, went to the front as a volunteer.

Nikol Pashinyan outlined the situation in a live broadcast on his Facebook page. In his words, a fateful moment has come for Armenia, and one cannot hope that the situation will be resolved with someone’s help. Now there is one solution for the inhabitants of Armenia: everyone must stand up for his people – just like the soldiers on the front line.

According to the prime minister, Armenia is ready for compromises, but Azerbaijan, like before the war, requires more – that is, surrender:

“The Armenian people and government are ready for mutual concessions [of the parties to the conflict], even for painful concessions, but the Armenian people are not ready for surrender in any case. In order to persuade Azerbaijan to make concessions, we need to stand up and fight. ”

Pashinyan is waiting for the US reaction to the violation of the ceasefire agreement in Karabakh. However, he has already managed to express to the American side his doubts about the observance of the truce:

“We, of course, do not yet know how President Trump will react, but after midnight I had a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and told him bluntly: since this is the first ceasefire for them, and for us already the third, I can roughly say that will happen tomorrow. With a high degree of probability, the truce will not be observed, and the blame for this will be laid on the Armenian side. “

Civilians suffered as a result of the shelling by the Azerbaijani armed forces of the village of Avetaranots in the Askeran region. The report of the office of the Ombudsman of Karabakh says that the Azerbaijani side continued to fire at civilian settlements with the Smerch multiple launch rocket system.

The spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry writes on his Facebook page that, despite the new ceasefire agreement, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched an attack in the direction of one of the military units on the front line. And the units of the Karabakh Defense Army are conducting defensive battles to stop the attack.

Shushan Stepanyan also reports that shelling of peaceful settlements continues. In particular, at about 13:50 in the direction of the village of Zardarashen, Martuni region, a multiple launch rocket system “Smerch” was used.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, during his address to the people, announced the capture of 18 more settlements under the control of the Azerbaijani army.

The list of these settlements has been announced:

Zangilan region: villages of Birinji and Ikinji Alybeyli, Rabend, Yenikend;

Jabrayil region: villages Govshudlu, Sofulu, Dag Mashanli, Kurdler, Khovuslu, Chelebiler;

Gubadli region: the villages of Padar, Efendiler, Yusifbeyli, Chaytumas, Khanlyg, Saryiatag, Mollabyurkhan and the city of Gubadli.

The State Emergency Situations Service reports that the Azerbaijani side violated the new agreement on the ceasefire regime in peaceful settlements. According to the report, “the enemy used military aircraft over the city of Martuni, grossly violating the agreement on a humanitarian ceasefire.”

In order to rule out violations and identify the perpetrators, the Armenian Defense Ministry reiterates the importance of introducing clear mechanisms for observing the ceasefire regime in order to start the process of exchange of prisoners and bodies of the dead through the mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Armenian Defense Ministry again claims that the Armenian side strictly adheres to the ceasefire, which came into force from 08:00 on October 26. Accusations of Baku that Yerevan allegedly violated the agreements are called here a provocation.

Moscow is against a military solution to Nagorno-Karabakh and calls on all external players to refrain from unrolling a military scenario, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

“We do not hide that we do not support the position on the possibility and admissibility of a military solution to this problem. Considering both peoples, Armenian and Azeri, as friendly and fraternal, we cannot share such aspirations, ”Lavrov said in an interview with the Athens and Macedonian News Agency.

He recalled that in favor of an “exclusively political” settlement “the presidents of Russia, the United States and France, as the heads-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group, have clearly expressed themselves.”

“We call on all external“ players ”to do everything to prevent further unwinding of the military scenario, to cool the emotions of the parties, to step up work to create conditions for restarting the peace process,” Lavrov summed up.

“Despite the announcement of a new humanitarian ceasefire regime, the Armenian armed forces fire from various types of small arms, mortars and cannons at our settlements and positions of the Azerbaijani Army units located along the entire length of the front, as well as on the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border.

Starting in the morning, the enemy fired at the territories of the Tovuz, Gadabay and Dashkesan regions of Azerbaijan from the territories of the Berd, Chambarak and Vardenis regions of Armenia.

At the same time, the positions of our units located in the Terter, Agdam, Fizuli, Lachin and Gubadli directions are also under fire from the enemy,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

A spokesman for the Armenian Defense Ministry wrote on her Facebook page:

“In gross violation of the humanitarian ceasefire agreement reached in the United States, the Azerbaijani side at about 8:45 fired artillery at the northeastern military positions in Artsakh.”

Minutes later, Shushan Stepanyan published a second message with similar content:

“Another violation was recorded at about 09:10. The enemy took aim at positions in the south-east direction, firing 5 artillery shells at them.

The Defense Ministry of Karabakh stated that “the units of the Defense Army strictly observe the agreements reached,” and the accusations of the Azerbaijani side “have nothing to do with reality.” Moreover, the Karabakh side assumes that the accusations were made in the context of preparing an information base for further provocations.
“After reaching an agreement on a ceasefire for humanitarian reasons in the United States, which was supposed to enter into force on October 26 at 08:00, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan hastened to accuse the Armenian side of gross violation of the ceasefire by 08:00, but deleted this information after some time. A few minutes later, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry disseminated yet more disinformation, noting that Armenian forces were shelling Azerbaijani positions in the southern direction,” the NK Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“The Armenian armed forces, violating the new humanitarian ceasefire regime, fired on the city of Terter and the villages of the region on October 26,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported.

“Despite the announcement of a new humanitarian ceasefire regime from October 26 08:00, the Armenian armed forces again grossly violated the agreement,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

“On October 26 at 08.05, the armed forces of Armenia, violating the new humanitarian ceasefire, from the direction of the city of Lachin subjected to artillery fire on the units of the Azerbaijani Army located in the village of Safiyan, Lachin region,” the ministry said in its next statement.

NK President Arayik Harutyunyan wrote on his Facebook page:

“I welcome the agreement reached with the mediation of the United States and with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, which reaffirms the parties’ commitments to implement the humanitarian ceasefire, which was agreed on October 10 and 17 at the initiative of the Presidents of the Russian Federation and the French Republic.
The Republic of Artsakh, as a party to the Azerbaijan-Karabakh conflict, confirms its readiness to comply on a reciprocal basis with the conditions of a humanitarian ceasefire, which will enter into force on October 26, 2020 at 08:00. ”

Following him, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook page:

“As agreed yesterday in Washington with the mediation of the United States, the Armenian side will observe a full ceasefire from 8:00.”

“Units of the Azerbaijani Army fully comply with the humanitarian ceasefire along the entire front, which entered into force on October 26 at 08:00,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in the morning.

On his Twitter account, US President Donald Trump congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on reaching an agreement on a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh.

“Many lives will be saved, I am proud of my team,” Trump wrote.

He praised the work done by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his Deputy Stephen Bigan and the White House National Security Council.

One month since the escalation began.

• A new and third, ceasefire was agreed upon late on October 25 and is already reported to have been broken. It took effect at 8 am today, October 26 (local time). This time the joint statement was signed by the USA, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The previous two truces – declared on October 10 and 18, respectively – were brokered by Moscow and fell apart almost as soon as they had been agreed.

• The prime minister of Armenia and president of Karabakh took to their social media to welcome the truce “agreed upon with the mediation of the United States” which they said confirmed the two earlier ceasefires “achieved on the initiative of the presidents of Russia and France”.

• The US President congratulated the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan on agreeing to adhere to a ceasefire and said that he was “proud of [his] team”.

• “There’s a possibility of an escalation of this conflict that could lead to a direct confrontation between Russia and Turkey,” former US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder said, answering CCN’s question about “wider importance of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh”.

• Fierce fighting continued throughout the day in the Karabakh conflict zone, especially on the southern direction of the frontline (close to the border with Iran). There were also reports of fighting on the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

• Ilham Aliyev said that in the month since the fighting began the Azerbaijani army had reclaimed the control of the cities of Fizuli, Hadrut, Jebrail, Zangelan and, on October 25, Gubadli. The army also controls about 100 villages in these areas, he said (the areas are adjacent to Karabakh and had been under the control of the Armenian forces since the war in the early 1990).

• 20 members of the French parliament arrived in Yerevan. After meeting with Armenia’s PM Nikol Pashinyan, they went to Karabakh.

• “Azerbaijan wants the fire ceased and its lands returned to it,” president of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev said in an interview to the American TV channel Fox News.

• “The war of drones” is how Russian military expert Igor Korotchenko described the fighting in Karabakh.

• Co-chair of the US Congressional Caucus on Armenia Issues Frank Pallone called on the US to “take critical steps like implementing sanctions to pressure Azerbaijan to abide by the ceasefire and stop using foreign terrorist fighters.”

• News, reports, photos / videos on military operations in Karabakh for October 25, 2020