At today’s press briefing summarizing developments on the battlefield in Artsakh, Armenian Defense Ministry Special Representative Artsrun Hovhannisyan said that fighting continued throughout the night yesterday, albeit at a slightly less intense degree than previously.

He said that small groups of Azerbaijani-recruited mercenaries and enemy diversionary units have not been able to advance in the direction of Shushi and that Armenian forces are locating and destroying them in the local forests where they fall back to after confronting stiff Armenian resistance.

Hovhannisyan ridiculed a statement made by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that these units are on the offensive and heading towards Shushi.

“Generally, during war, you don’t have to go out and locate an advancing army. They’re right in front of you, Hovhannisyan said.

He said that the Azerbaijani mercenaries and diversionary groups will utterly fail to plant the Azerbaijani flag as a symbolic show of victory to coincide with Azerbaijani Flag Day, November 9.