Destroyed and shelled settlements were on the whole way to the frontline in south-eastern area of Artsakh. Hadrut is in 2 hours way from the frontline, but people in the city told that yesterday shooting was fairly intense and the voices of shots and shelling were heard. “The shots do not reach here, but we hear gunshots every night. They were intensive this night. We are very afraid, we fall into stress, but what can we do?” resident of Hadrut said.
25-year-old Karen from Banadzor border village said that despite the tense border situation, he would stay there. He grazes their cattle in some two dozen kilometers from the enemy.
On the way to the frontline we see “Grad” and “Smerch” rockets stuck in the asphalt. “Grad” rocket had exploded, whereas the “Smerch” rocket was on the ground just in two meters from it and did not explode.
The soldiers of the artillery battalion on the frontline told that situation was quite tense in recent days; the Azerbaijani troops turned to open aggression.
Soldier Michael said that in recent days there was danger at any time, “They were firing randomly and could shoot next to us as well,” he said.
22-year-old Taron fell under fire yesterday night, he told us, “We were driving up, to bring down the friend’s vehicle. The shells were in it. There was a maximum some thirty meters to reach it when they fired. They hit my friend’s vehicle. We got off from our vehicle and then it was also bombed. We managed to leave,” he said.
The Deputy Commander of this unit, Colonel Davit Davtyan said in the interview with the journalists that on April 2, the enemy, using the factor of unexpectedness, attacked our units and getting a proper response, had to stop at the starting line.
He said that the enemy unit was formed of the so-called elite units. We asked what units he was talking about. The Colonel said, “Special units trained in advance for this operation, subversive reconnaissance groups and mercenaries.”
We asked whether the Azerbaijani side succeeded to seize land. The Colonel replied, “There are small losses of land, but it is not important. There is no effect, these meters will be determined. We shall take them back when you reach Stepanakert,” he joked.
Azerbaijani aggression touches the armed forces, as well as but on civilians.
Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, Yuri Hayrapetyan said that the peaceful population suffered and civilian objects were damaged. “This is the evidence of the fact that Azerbaijan continues to violate the norms of international humanitarian law which stipulates the procedure and principles for conducting military operations, etc. It is clearly stated that military operations should not choose to target the civilian population, which they have done,” Human Rights Defender of Artsakh said.
