The President of the Republic of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan presented the already registered realities to the compatriots, on Facebook live streaming. He reminded that on the morning of November 8, walking in Stepanakert Square, he mentioned that it was one of the hardest nights of his life and one of the heaviest dawns. He said that on November 7 "we completely lost control over the city of Shushi''.
"Today I want to announce that I probably had the hardest night of my life. I have had very hard days. In 1992-94 I lost relatives, who had their last word in my hands, but I was able to find strength, concentrate and make decisions. But I do not know how the decision made yesterday will be assessed in history, but we had to make it.
First, in terms of military law, as a result of 43 days of hostilities, we lost the Fizuli region, the Jabrayil region, the Kubatlu, Zangelan, the main part of Hadrut region, part of the Martuni and Askeran regions, and most importantly, Shushi. The battles took place on the outskirts of Stepanakert, at a distance of 2-3 km. If the hostilities continued at that pace, we would have lost the whole of Artsakh in a matter of days, we would have had many more casualties, because the hostilities would have moved to the rear of our front line and we would have had irreversible for our servicemen consequences, especially for the conscripts, who fought heroically for those 43 days on the front line. I do not want to tell what would have happened to our servicemen on the front line of Askeran and Martuni regions if we lost Stepanakert. Most likely they could have appeared in a blockade," Harutyunyan said.
He said that it seemed that we had managed to defend ourselves from drones for a few days in terms of our anti-aircraft forces, but for the last two days the enemy had the opportunity to cause great damage to our army again with the help of new technologies or new drones. The President of the Republic of Artsakh stressed the vitality of meeting the decades' old needs of the Defense Army, as well as the fact that our forces on the front line had health issues - covid, dysentery, etc., since there was no opportunity for a change, rest, and heal. Military operations were ongoing every day. The President of the Republic of Artsakh stressed that despite all this, they were able to resist the armed forces of about 8 states. Harutyunyan mentioned that the Defense Army was supported by the Armenian volunteers, meanwhile there were mercenaries and terrorists in the enemy forces.
"I bow first to our soldiers, our conscripts were the most heroic guys in the world. I bow to the families of all our martyrs. We were forced to save the lives of the other soldiers," said the President of Artsakh.
Harutyunyan mentioned that they have lost the main control over Shushi since November 5, but completely since November 7. He said they did not want to believe that it was already impossible to fight with the resources available - the human and armored. The President of the Republic of Artsakh also mentioned that solidarity is needed among the Armenian people for sober decisions. He emphasized that everything is ahead, "we have to think over, evaluate, and then make decisions".
"If I was desperate, I would make up my mind to continue the fight at the cost of my life, realizing that we would succumb and lose Artsakh. Everything is ahead! Artsakh, the Armenian nation, Armenia have had very difficult days in history, but we have been able to make wise decisions to follow the right path and achieve success. We will have the opportunity to make a more sober decision, that's why we need solidarity among the Armenian people," said the President of Artsakh.
