Ilham Aliyev announced the capture of the former capital of Nagorno-Karabakh - Shushi

In the 19th-20th centuries, Shusha (Shushi) was the capital of the Karabakh Khanate, both Azerbaijanis and Armenians lived here. The city was an important spiritual and cultural center throughout the Caucasus. In March 1920, a massacre of the Armenian population took place in the city, as a result of which, according to various estimates, thousands of local Armenians died, the Armenian part of the city was burned and destroyed, and the entire surviving Armenian population was expelled. After that, the city fell into a period of slow degradation for a long time.

Shusha is located only 11 kilometers from Stepanakert, the current capital of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, but at a higher altitude, and therefore it is easy to shell Stepanakert from there, which was what happened in the first war in Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s. Then the Armenian forces occupied the city, securing Stepanakert. The Azerbaijani population was forced to flee from Shushi.

Last day, November 7, the representative of the Armenian Defense Ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan reported that the Azerbaijani Armed Forces were pulling together to occupy Shusha. In the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, they announced intensive night battles for the city, the Interfax news agency reported. According to the Azerbaijani president, from September 27 - the date of the beginning of the resumption of active hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Azerbaijani military took control of more than 200 settlements, - the RIA Novosti news agency notes.

The avia.pro publication calls what is happening now in Nagorno-Karabakh "a complete defeat" and the loss of the war by the Armenian side for survival: "It took the Azerbaijani military about eight hours to take control of 13 settlements on the territory of Karabakh. According to local media, important settlements were taken under control due to the fact that the forces of the Artsakh army simply retreated, obviously to form a new line of defense". In any case, the seizure of Shushi can now mean the possibility of at least a massive shelling of the Karabakh capital and even its quick capture.

Representative of the Armenian Defense Ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan stated that the battles in Shusha are still continuing and urged to believe "our troops", - RIA Novosti news agency notes.