On the night of May 16 through the morning of May 17 along the northeastern border of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Azeri side continued to fire irregularly at the Armenian held positions with various caliber sniper rifles.
According to the operative information by the NKR defense Army, On the night of May 16 to the morning of May 17, enemy violated the verbal cease fire agreement on the line of contact of confronting armies on NKR – Azerbaijani troops shooting from infantry fighting vehicle (30 shells), 60 mm mortars (16 bombs) and automatic grenade launchers (32 bombs). Intensive shooting was registered in the south-eastern sector of the line of contact (Hadrut) and eastern direction (Martuni).
It is noteworthy that the Azerbaijani troops applies destabilizing and provocative actions just during the meeting of the Presidents of the Republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is organized in Vienna by the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. As a result of these hostile actions on 17 May at 00:50 soldier Khachatur Harutyunyan (born in 2016) was deadly wounded in one of the positions in southern direction of the Defense Army.
An investigation is underway to find out the details of the incident.
The RA Defense Ministry shares the grief of loss and expresses its support to the fallen soldier’s family, friends and colleagues.
The Azerbaijani side bares the entire responsibility for the consequences on the front.
