As mentioned earlier, the situation is tense in almost all parts of the Shirak province. People have closed streets everywhere and have organized protests. Around 150 people from the Shirak province have either been blockaded or fell prisoner in the Khtsaberd village of the Hadrut region.
The residents of the Shirak province also closed the Azatan portion of the Gyumri-Yerevan route. Six people from the Azatan community alone fell prisoner.
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Several volunteers who were saved from being prisoners of war said that they were also blockaded near the Khtsaberd village of Hadrut, but their commander, Arsen Ghazaryan, was able to save their lives.
Two days ago, members of the Azerbaijani special forces Yashma group approached them and said, “This is our territory, leave,” and they started to shoot.
“Two days ago at 5:05 PM, they started to shoot at us. We fought against them and were able to retreat thanks to the professionalism of our commander. Two of our soldiers were wounded. Thank God, we did not suffer any casualties. We asked the Azerbaijanis to give us three hours, which they didn’t do, and they shot towards us instead. Our commander was able to bring us out of there. He stayed behind to bring our boys back and help them. They took us there to defend our territory, and then they brought the Azerbaijanis to free it. Thirty of us were unable to do anything against 500-1,000 people. Just by defending ourselves, listening to our commander, fighting, and somehow bringing our wounded back, we were able to come home. Sixty of our brothers stayed behind,” volunteers said.
Nune Arevshatyan
