News, reports, photos / videos on military actions in Karabakh for October 9, 2020

On the thirteenth day after the outbreak of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev made an address to the people.

• Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev delivers ultimatum to Armenia over Karabakh

Artsrun Hovhannisyan said during the traditional evening briefing on the situation at the front:
“When Ilham Aliyev made a statement about taking control of nine settlements, I was personally in Hadrut. Apparently, the top leadership of Azerbaijan is not informed about the failures at the front. I do not rule out that Ilham Aliyev is trapped and has no idea about the real situation in Karabakh. ”
Several hours ago, the President of Azerbaijan announced that “the Azerbaijani army liberated from occupation” the village of Hadrut and several other settlements.
According to Hovhannisyan, the Armenian Armed Forces managed to break off and stop the offensive operation of the Azerbaijani side, which began on September 27.

“As a result of the shelling by the Armenian armed forces from heavy artillery installations and missile systems of our settlements, 31 civilians were killed, 168 were injured.

In addition, as a result of intensive heavy artillery and rocket attacks by the Armenian army, 1,091 houses, 143 civilian objects and 45 apartment buildings were in an unusable state, ”the press service of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office reported.

“Today Azerbaijan’s army has liberated the town of Hadrut, and Chayli, Yukhari Guzlek, Gorazilli, Gishlag, Garajali, Efendiler, Suleymanli and Sur villages. Long live Azerbaijan’s Army! Karabakh is Azerbaijan!” – wrote the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on his Twitter.

Today Azerbaijan’s Army has liberated the town of Hadrut, and Chayli, Yukhari Guzlek, Gorazilli, Gishlag, Garajali, Efendiler, Suleymanli and Sur villages. Long live Azerbaijan’s Army! Karabakh is Azerbaijan!

— Ilham Aliyev (@presidentaz) October 9, 2020

The meeting of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Union, operating under the leadership of Russia, was attended by representatives of all member countries, except for Kyrgyzstan. Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronov was unable to come because his government was dismissed.
During the meeting, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin expressed condolences to the relatives and friends of those killed during the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. He noted the need to end hostilities in the conflict zone and announced Russia’s readiness to promote a peaceful settlement.
A bilateral meeting took place between Pashinyan and Mishustin. They also touched upon the Karabakh issue here, but no details were reported. The official statement says that they also discussed issues related to the Armenian-Russian economic cooperation. By the way, this is Mishustin’s first visit to Yerevan as prime minister.

In his address, the President of Azerbaijan said:

“All the time it was said everywhere that there was no military solution to this conflict. I never agreed with this statement. And I proved that there is a military solution.

First, this issue is resolved by military means, and only then on the negotiating table by diplomatic means. If we hadn’t taught him a lesson, would he have run to Moscow?”

“A ballistic target launched from the territory of Armenia in the direction of Mingachevir was detected by Azerbaijan’s air defense systems and destroyed at an altitude of more than 20 kilometers,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

The fighting continues in the Karabakh conflict zone. The Armenian side reports that the units of the Defense Army are repelling the offensive actions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in all sectors.

“At present, the enemy is intensively shelling the territory of the Barda and Aghdam regions,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

“The enemy is firing at the territories of Goranboy, Terter and Agdam districts. The Azerbaijani army is taking adequate measures against the armed forces of Armenia, ”the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

The Karabakh Ombudsman Artak Beglaryan announced this in the Twitter microblog.

#BREAKING AGAIN!#Azerbaijan just struck #Stepanakert civilian areas for a few times.
The authorities of that country are chronic terrorists & criminals, while the intl community – chronic blind.
No data on casualties yet.#DontBeBlind #RecognizeArtsakh #HumanRights

— Artak Beglaryan | #StopArtsakhGenocide (@Artak_Beglaryan) October 9, 2020

There is no information about the victims yet.

In some sections of the border, skirmishes continued and artillery battles continued. It is also reported that the rocket and artillery shelling of settlements continued on the Azerbaijani side.

“In the afternoon of October 8 and until the morning of October 9, fierce battles continued along the entire length of the front line,” the press service of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.

“After a series of telephone conversations with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the President of Russia calls for an end to hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone for humanitarian reasons in order to exchange bodies of the dead and prisoners.

The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia are invited to Moscow on October 9 to hold consultations on these issues through the mediation of the Russian Foreign Minister, ”reads the statement posted on the Kremlin’s official website.

13th day of fighting in Karabakh.

• From the Armenian side, since the beginning of the fighting on September 27, according to official data more than 350 soldiers and 22 civilians have been killed. 95 have been wounded. On the Azerbaijani side, 31 civilians have been killed and 154 were wounded.  How many Azerbaijani have been killed has not been reported. Experts suggest that the statistics of deaths and injuries are enormous on both sides, given the intensity of the fighting, which has been going on for the 13th day.

• The Kazanchetsots cathedral in the city of Shushi (Shusha) in Karabakh, which is considered by the locals to be one of the symbols of the city, has been badly damaged by shelling.  There were children in the cathedral at the time of the shelling.  Azerbaijan denies that it was its military who fired at the church.

• During the shelling of the Kazanchetsots cathedral, three Russian journalists were wounded, one of them, Yuri Kotenok, was seriously wounded.

• Settlements on the territory of Azerbaijan were subjected to rocket fire.

• A criminal case on high treason has been opened in Armenia against a resident of Stepanakert. He was detained in Yerevan and accused of inciting soldiers in Karabakh to abandon their positions. The arrested person accused the Armenian leadership of having entered into an agreement with Azerbaijan to surrender territories to it, Prime Minister Pashinyan said.  The director of the National Security Service of Armenia was dismissed.

• In Armenia, the conditions of martial law have been toughened – a ban on demonstrations, publications and criticism of state structures has been added. Campaigning aimed at undermining the country’s defense capability is also prohibited.

• The Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan answered the questions of the English-language service Euronews.

Ilham Aliyev reiterated his conditions for a truce – Armenia must leave Karabakh and the seven occupied regions according to an agreed schedule.

Nikol Pashinyan called on the international community to recognise the independence of Karabakh in order to save the local Armenian population from genocide by Azerbaijan.

• The Ministry of Defense of Armenia published a video allegedly demonstrating mercenaries from Syria on the side of Azerbaijan in hostilities in the zone of the Karabakh conflict.

• Azerbaijan recalled its ambassador to Greece for consultations in response to the decision of the Greek Foreign Ministry to withdraw its ambassador from Baku.

• In Geneva, negotiations on escalation in Karabakh were held with the participation of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs from Russia, France and the United States (the Minsk Group is the facilitator of the negotiation process in the Karabakh conflict) and representatives of Azerbaijan.  The only thing that is known at this moment about this meeting is that it took place outside the UN, in a secret place and in a completely closed format.

• The Russian President will meet on October 9 in Moscow with the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia “to discuss the need to stop clashes in the region and exchange prisoners and bodies of the dead.”

• News, reports, photos / videos on military operations in Karabakh for October 8, 2020