ArmInfo.Exactly one year ago, on September 19, 2023, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, after an almost ten-month total blockade of the Republic of Artsakh, initiated aggression against the Republic fighting for its right to self-determination.
Against the backdrop of the inaction of the entire international community, left alone with an enemy tens of times larger in numbers, Artsakh fell on September 20.
As a result of the enemy aggression, hundreds of Artsakh residents were injured, and more than 200 were reported killed, including civilians.
Azerbaijan began the violent subjugation of the NKR. In addition, late in the evening of September 20, it became known that Azerbaijan deliberately fired at two vehicles of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, killing 6 people, including the deputy commander of the RMK. On September 22, the process of abolishing the Artsakh Defense Army began. During search operations from September 21 to 24, the NKR Interior Ministry found the bodies of 105 Artsakh residents, including brutally murdered children and old people. Artsakh was completely de-Armenianized, its entire indigenous population of over 120 thousand people was forced to flee to Armenia under the threat of physical violence.
During the mass exodus, on September 25, an explosion occurred at a fuel depot near Stepanakert, a tank of gasoline exploded. At the time of the explosion, there were a large number of people at the scene who were standing in line for gasoline to leave Artsakh amid the latest Azerbaijani aggression. According to the Investigative Committee of Armenia, 218 people were killed in the explosion at the fuel depot, 215 of whom have been identified. At least 120 people received injuries of varying severity, mainly burns. At the moment, according to the investigation, the whereabouts of 21 people are unknown.
Since the enemy aggression that began in the fall of 2020, which in September 2023 ended in the complete ethnic cleansing of Artsakh, over 150 thousand Artsakh residents have become homeless.
Today, memorial events will be held in Yerevan for those who laid down their lives for the Motherland.