Aravot Daily traveled around Stepanakert to survey the damage caused by shelling.
Residential buildings and homes were not spared from the shelling.
A woman living next to a home that was damaged, Svetlana Ishkhanyan, told Aravot Daily that she remembered what took place the night before. “I was lying down when the first mortars struck. I got up. What was I supposed to do? I gathered my belongings. I got back in bed and thought that this isn’t a nation that stays quiet. Then, it happened again and again with such force! I saw two wars, but none this powerful.”
She said that she had a good relationship with her neighbors, and they frequently were in contact with each other. At the moment of the shelling, she and her neighbor, Roza, were home alone. “We spent some time together in the evening. Then I said, ‘Roza, it’s getting late, let’s go to sleep.’ We went back to our homes and the shelling happened that night.”
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When the shelling occurred, Svetlana heard her neighbor’s cries, but she couldn’t get outside quickly enough. She was feeling faint. When she got there, an ambulance had already arrived.
Svetlana’s home was also damaged, but she had not been able to survey the damage yet. “I’m scared, I’m very scared, but the army is fighting. What should I do? How can I leave? I wait every hour for some news.”
The homeowners also visited the damaged home. The women were upset to see their home in ruins. The men were gathering priority items and leaving the home quickly.
The State Minister of Artsakh, Grigory Martirosyan; the mayor of Stepanakert, Davit Sargsyan; and National Assembly deputy Artur Harutyunyan visited the site and gathered information on the situation.
Ami Chichakyan
Photos by Narek Avagyan
