Exactly a year ago, on September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan's Patriotic War began. On that day, Armenia's occupying forces subjected the positions of the armed forces of Azerbaijan along the front line and the adjacent populated areas in Azerbaijan to intensive fire with the use of large-calibre weapons, artillery and mortars. Baku decided to launch a counter-offensive operation to ensure the safety of the civilian population. Vestnik Kavkaza offers its readers to follow the events of the 44 days of Azerbaijan's Patriotic War as they were covered a year ago.
On the forty-third day of the war, November 8, Armenia's occupying forces have been trying to seize the re-liberated Azerbaijani lands all night. At the same time, not only ordinary occupants were dying, but also officers. The Armenian army also carried out strikes across the border with Azerbaijan. The exhausted group of invaders in the Aghdam region were firing their last shells and missiles at the settlements of the front-line zone, a civilian was wounded in the Terter region.
In the morning, it was revealed that the presidents of Russia and Turkey, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone conversation the day before: Erdogan stressed the need to withdraw the occupation forces of Armenia from Azerbaijan.
After 11:00, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev officially announced: Shusha has been liberated. He stressed that November 8 will forever go down in the history of Azerbaijan as Victory Day. The people of Azerbaijan took to the streets to celebrate this event. Ankara congratulated Baku on the de-occupation of Shusha.
In the afternoon, footage was revealed of the liberated village of Balasoltanogly in the Gubadly region and about the attack by Su-25 attack aircraft on the invaders in the Khojavend region. The shelling of the settlements of Azerbaijan continued: the Aghdam and Terter regions were under fire.
British media published a leak that Yerevan agreed to withdraw the occupation troops from Azerbaijan, and Baku agreed to deploy Russian and Turkish peacekeepers in Karabakh. The head of the National Security Service was dismissed in Armenia.
In the evening, another part of the occupation command was liquidated, the liberation Azerbaijani army was systematically advancing towards Khojavend.
Late in the evening, the first details of the liberation of Shusha were revealed: much of the fighting was hand-to-hand.
Thus, on the forty-third day of the war, there was the most important event of the entire Patriotic War of Azerbaijan - the cultural capital of the republic, the city of Shusha, was liberated from occupation. Since Shusha is located on a hill in the immediate vicinity of Khankendi and directly above the road from Lachin, the remnants of the occupation troops in Karabakh ended up in a cauldron: communication with Armenia was no longer possible (despite the fact that Lachin was still under occupation). It is not without reason that this day, November 8, was declared the Victory Day in Azerbaijan - the liberation of Shushi meant the complete defeat of the occupation forces of Armenia.
