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 last, forty-fourth day of the war, November 9, Armenia's occupation troops continued to resist the counter-offensive of the liberation Azerbaijani army, however, a mass exodus of the invaders from the Khojavend region began. Shelling of Azerbaijan's border regions has intensified.
During 43 days of the war, 93 Azerbaijan civilians were killed under the shelling of Armenian war criminals, 407 civilians were wounded.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in an interview with the BBC reiterated that Baku is ready to cease hostilities any time. The first structures of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were formed on the liberated lands.
By 13:00, the liberation of 23 villages in six regions of Azerbaijan, including Khojaly, was announced. In response, the remnants of the occupation forces subjected the Askipara village of the Terter district to artillery shelling, about 100 houses were damaged.
While trying to retreat from Khojaly to Khankendi, a military column of occupiers was liquidated. The Azerbaijani liberation army launched a counteroffensive in the direction of Khojavend, in particular, one of the last Armenian air defense systems in this sector of the front was destroyed.
In the afternoon, the first footage of the liberated Shusha was published. Armenia acknowledged that its occupation forces had been thrown out of Shusha and that the Azerbaijani liberation army was near Khankendi.
A mosque desecrated by the invaders turned into a cowshed was discovered in the Fizuli region.
By 19:00, the liberation of 49 more villages in seven regions of Azerbaijan was announced. Late in the evening Terter was fired upon by the invaders for the last time.
In the evening, news came of the crash of a Russian military helicopter in Armenia, near the village of Yeraskh. Baku immediately admitted the guilt of the Azerbaijani military, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Azerbaijan Republic launched an investigation, the head of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense expressed condolences to the Russian Minister of Defense. The Russian Foreign Ministry positively assessed the fact that Baku immediately admitted guilt.
On the night of November 10, Armenia surrendered - this was first unofficially reported by a representative of the Armenian opposition, and then officially confirmed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan: the full ceasefire was announced from midnight on November 10 (MSK). Pashinyan explained that he had no other choice.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the signing of a trilateral peace statement by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Russia and Armenia to end the Karabakh war. During the videoconference, Vladimir Putin and President Ilham Aliyev signed this document, Pashinyan signed it later. Aliyev also apologized to Putin for the tragic incident with the downed helicopter.
At that moment, a crowd of angry nationalists broke into the building of the Armenian government. In front of the parliament building, the crowd caught and beat the speaker of the National Assembly, and also broke into the parliament building. Pashinyan promised to punish the rioters
According to the signed trilateral statement, Yerevan pledged to withdraw the occupation troops from the Aghdam, Kelbajar and Lachin regions of Azerbaijan within three weeks, and Russia deployed its peacekeepers in Karabakh. The Armenian Defense Ministry promised to strictly abide by the terms of the statement. The Kremlin said that the text of the statement had been drawn up for several days. The document was published on the morning of November 10.
Thus, on the last day of the war, the Azerbaijani army liberated a record number of settlements - 71 villages and one settlement. Deprived of communication with Armenia, the invaders left their positions and fled to Khankendi. Thanks to the liberation of Shusha, the occupying Armenian forces were surrounded. Therefore, Yerevan agreed to capitulate -in order to save about 20 thousand lives of the invaders.
Thus, the Karabakh war ended with the victory of Azerbaijan.
