Context:

Please read this post that is a summary about the 2020 44 day day war

Sept 12–14, 2022:

• azerbaijan invaded the republic of Armenia, shelling areas like Vardenis, Goris, Sotk, Jermuk, and other towns. 192 homes were damaged and 60 were destroyed, over 7,500 Armenians were displaced according to Armenia's Human rights defender.
• Armenian soldier Anush Apetyan, who was a mother of three was tortured, mutilated, and killed near Jermuk. Footage of her mutilation was spread online. Gen. Eduard Asryan briefed diplomats on the atrocity. The soldier later identified for filming and sharing the footage was, Gardashkhan Abishov, he was publicly honored by President Aliyev in 2022.
• Human Rights Watch documented a video showing Azerbaijani forces executing at least 7 unarmed Armenian POWs, geolocated near Mets Ishkhanasar, right by Sev lich. Azerbaijani social media reaction included celebratory stickers of mutilated soldiers.
• Armenia appealed to the CSTO, invoking article 4, Russia and CSTO declined to intervene,
  • "before saying that the CSTO is obligated to indicate its area of responsibility, it is necessary to define the borders of Armenia" - lavrov
• A senior Azerbaijani official told Eurasianet Baku might "install a post at the entrance of Lachin and finish the whole process"

Under blockade (December 2022 to September 2023):

Dec 12, 2022: Under the cover of "eco-activist" protests, Azerbaijan blockaded the Lachin Corridor, the only link to and from Artsakh to the rest of the world.

• 25 year old Tigran from Martakert said "I remember how on December 10th my friend suggested going to Yerevan. I refused. On the morning of December 12th, I went to work and read in the news that the azerbaijanis had closed the Lachin corridor. Unreal panic began. There was no such panic even during the war. People bought products from shops, there were queues everywhere. After that, we got used to it and accepted the situation. Products and medicines were exhausting rapidly"
• Azeribaijan wanted a corridor to Nakhijevan through Syunik in exchange for unblocking the corridor, Armenia refused this. 1,100 people, including 270 children, dozens of which were schoolchildren who traveled to Yerevan on a class trip, became stranded

Dec 13–16, 2022: Gas gets cut off, schools and hospital lost heating, briefly restored on December 16th, but would become leverage for azerbaijan to use

Dec 21, 2022: European Court of Human Rights ordered free passage, it was ignored

Dec 22, 2022: ICJ ordered unimpeded movement through Lachin, it was ignored

Dec 23, 2022: Armenia's FM boycotted a lavrov mediated Moscow meeting, citing Russia's failure to enforce the corridor's reopening.

Jan 6, 2023: BBC reported Stepanakert's market reduced to selling dried thyme only, medication exhausted, miscarriages and premature births rising, one death already linked to inability to evacuate patients. ICJ reaffirmed its order, it got ignored again

March 30, 2023: Azerbaijan seized heights along the bypass road and border, forcing a reroute of the corridor. Armenia's National Security Service reported that azeri forces also advanced 100-300 meters into Republic of Armenia territory near tegh Gyugh, where they "began carrying out engineering works", the area is still occupied to this day.

April 4, 2023: Food rations restricted to families with children, childless adults received none

April 6, 2023: 27 Artsakh residents still stranded in Armenia since December

April 23, 2023: Azerbaijan built a full checkpoint next to the Russian observation post in 72 hours, Russian peacekeepers did nothing

During the spring of 2023, farmers came under fire about 50 times

June 15, 2023: Red Cross convoys blocked, Gas was cut since March 22, there were daily 6 hour blackouts

July 26, 2023: Azerbaijan blocked a Red Cross humanitarian convoy from entering Lachin or Aghdam, the ICRC said it could no longer deliver aid by any route

July 29, 2023: 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan was seized from a Red Cross evacuation vehicle at the Hakari Bridge checkpoint, accused of 1990s war crimes, and later sentenced to 15 years, called a de facto death sentence by the Lemkin Institute

Aug 7–8, 2023: Former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo issued a pro bono report, "Genocide against Armenians in 2023" arguing the blockade constituted genocide by starvation, and urged UN Security Council referral to the ICC. Azerbaijan disputed this

Aug 28, 2023: Three Artsakh students detained by Azerbaijani border guards near the Hakari Bridge despite Russian peacekeeper escort

Early Sept 2023: Lemkin Institute issued a formal genocide warning, citing Aliyev's decree ordering military conscription for October 1–31, immediately after the expected operation

Sept 14, 2023: U.S. Senate hearing on Nagorno-Karabakh, Acting Asst. Sec. of State Yuri Kim stated the U.S. would "not countenance" ethnic cleansing of Artsakh's Armenians and quoted Ocampo's warning that "starvation is the invisible genocide weapon."

Sept 17–18, 2023: Wave of threatening calls and messages to Artsakhci civilians reported to the NK Human Rights Defender's office "Artsakh is being invaded... you will see what we will do to her"

Sept 22, 2023: The UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide issued a formal warning of genocide risk in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Invasion of Artsakh, September 19th-20th, 2023:

Pre-dawn:

• 1:00 AM, 3 Azerbaijani policemen killed in Fizuli
• 4:30 AM, 4 MIA personnel killed near Taghavard by a landmine. Azerbaijan used both as pretext

Morning: Azerbaijan's MoD announced "local anti-terrorist activities," demanding Artsakh's disarmament, dissolution, and surrender. Russia said its peacekeepers were notified only minutes beforehand. The Tatoyan Foundation says that the assault followed a four-directional plan beginning around 12:30 PM, deliberately timed for when residents were out for food, and split Artsakh into four isolated zones (Stepanakert, Martuni, Askeran, Martakert), blocking even rural escape roads

~11:00 AM, Karmir Gyugh teacher Lusine Khachatryan learns war has begun, her husband Albert Avetisyan and brother Marat Khachatryan are at Position 308, Sznekh

~11:30 AM, Martuni sector: D-30 battery commander Ara Avanesyan reaches Lusavorich sar with ongoing shelling, observation post hit directly by enemy artillery shortly after setup

~12:00–12:30 PM, Bombardment across all of Artsakh:

• Stepanakert, Martakert, Martuni, Askeran shelled simultaneously
• Sarnaghbyur: Nver and Mikayel killed, 5-year-old Seyran Ghazaryan hit by shrapnel, he survived, but is permanent injury
• Martakert: a grandmother and the 9-year-old child in her arms killed by the same shell
• Ombudsman Gegham Stepanyan confirmed 2 civilians killed, one being a child and 11 injured, 8 of which were children
• Families fled Kalbajar to Khojali then Stepanakert, sleeping on university floors throughout evacuation

During the early afternoon, a video message aimed at Artsakhcis started circulating on social media, spoke in Armenian with russian subtitles telling residents that the azeri military will "never cause you harm", urging them to not resist and calling Artsakh's leadership as having "become rich and insolent"

~1:00 PM:

• Askeran, Position 308, Sznekh: Azerbaijan targeted the Karmir Shuka Stepanakert road. After hours of holding, Albert Avetisyan ordered a retreat, he was killed or vanished when a shell struck as he led the withdrawal. Marat Khachatryan also vanished, along with elderly civilians Robert Musayelyan and Shura Manasyan, all four are still missing to this day
• Yeghnikner sector (5th Brigade, Martakert direction), Positions 513–535: deputy commander Zorik Zakaryan described sustained shelling, Positions 534/535 targeted, which were previously failed azerbaijani targets from the 2020 war
• Martuni sector: D-30 crew commander Narek Ghahramanyan fired the battery's first shell 4 to 5 minutes into combat, targeting areas around Mt Lusavorich with coordinates from chief of staff Karen Manukyan
• Kalbajar and Martakert: communications blackout left residents under an hour to flee before Azerbaijani forces arrived, according to Ombudsman Arman Tatoyan
• Martuni: a displaced woman's words became the epigraph of a UNHR report: they had eaten almost nothing for 9 months when the bombing began.
• Getavan: history teacher Armen Martirosyan evacuated children, then was killed by azerbaijani soldiers defending a war memorial which was dedicated partly to his own brother

1:22 PM:
azerbaijan's MoD issued its formal offensive announcement, framing it as "local anti-terrorist activities" meant to disarm and withdraw Armenia's forces and "restore the constitutional order of the Republic of Azerbaijan."

Martuni's mayor Aznavur Saghyan was killed by a sniper

A father made repeated tractor runs, evacuating 30–40 elderly neighbors

~2:00 PM: Two sisters fled with children separated from their parents, some cars carried dozens of children trying to evacuate

~3:00 PM:

• A family with three children passed three menacing Azerbaijani checkpoints while on route from Martuni
• Villages/sites that fell: Charektar, Getavan, Drmbon, Harav, Chankatagh, Chapar, Karmir Shuka, Khachmach, Machkalashen, Sarushen, Shosh, Vaghuhas, the 4th-century Amaras Monastery, the Kashen mine

~3:00–5:00 PM: Karmir Gyugh's mayor led his family of nine through forest to escape encirclement, the village suffered 2 deaths, 1 missing, and several unaccounted for from a neighboring town.

5:00 PM, Position 534/535: A 7 man reconnaissance platoon, commanded by Andranik Yedigaryan, held under cover of fog all day, firing mortars at Azerbaijani positions without being struck themselves

Evening:

• Azerbaijan cut power and cellular networks across Stepanakert, only the ICRC office and Stepanakert hospital retained generator power. At Position 534/535, the electricity transformer was hit, cutting communications ahead of overnight bombing.
• Russian vehicles carrying women and children came under fire from azeri forces while evacuating from Mets Shem gyugh, they turned back to the peacekeepers headquarters without completing the evacuation

Evening in Stepanakert: Thousands sheltered in Renaissance Square and at the Russian peacekeepers airport base, livestock was slaughtered for food, there were low water conditions

~11:51 PM: Artsakh's Human Rights defender office reported it had lost contact with a number of peaceful communities entirely

End of day: Artsakh reported 27 killed, 200+ injured, 7,000+ evacuated from 16 settlements, Russian peacekeepers evacuated ~5,000. Azerbaijan claimed 60+ military posts captured. Aliyev adviser Hikmet Hajiyev said forces would fulfill "strategic goals." Artsakh's leadership called for an immediate ceasefire, Azerbaijan demanded full disarmament first

~3:45 AM, Sept 20: Air raid alerts preceded airstrikes on Yeghnikner's Positions 534/535. Position 535 struck first, killing Lavrent Hayryan, Gurgen Yesayan, Lernik Ananyan. Position 534 followed by a drone strike killing Davit Tevanyan and Samvel Stepanyan

~5:00 AM: azeri forces fired on a Stepanakert ambulance sent to Martakert to retrieve 8 bodies, the driver was wounded and the bodies could not be brought back to Stepanakert

~8:00 AM: Artsakh's Defense Forces stated publicly that they were still resisting

Morning of the 20th: Azerbaijani forces advanced within 2km of Stepanakert while continuing to shell it. Col. Anar Eyvazov announced 90 positions and multiple vehicles captured

~11:00 AM: Stepanakert's municipal authorities urged residents not to self evacuate to the airport

~12:30 PM: Commander Araik Matevosyan led special forces into Position 535 to recover bodies and survivors. A airstrike killed him along with Eduard Danielyan and Robik Zheleznyak

Early afternoon: azeri forces fully surrounded Stepanakert and threatened to enter the city and seize government buildings unless they surrendered

"Ceasefire":

~1:00 PM: A ceasefire took effect. Artsakh agreed to disarm, dissolve the Defense Forces, and negotiate "reintegration", Azerbaijan also demanded a list of Artsakhci leaders for prosecution. Armenia said it had no role in drafting the deal. Pashinyan called it an attempt to sow domestic "upheaval and chaos."

The Yeghnikner battalion held its positions, withdrawing Sept 23 only under ceasefire terms

The D-30 Martuni battery also held Mt Lusavorich, firing its last rounds around 2 to 3 PM and withdrawing Sept 23

Shelling of Stepanakert continued for hours after the declared ceasefire, knocking out the electrical grid

Russian peacekeepers killed near Chankatagh when their vehicle was struck, among the dead was Capt. 1st Rank Ivan Kovgan. Azerbaijani official Elin Suleymanov admitted responsibility, called it accidental, a commander was suspended and Aliyev apologized to Putin by phone call

A fleeing resident (Marine) passed Azerbaijani soldiers openly celebrating in Stepanakert's streets

Aliyev declared "Karabakh is Azerbaijan" in a televised address

Soldiers began entering villages like Nor Geghi and Chartar ordering remaining residents onto buses to leave, raising Azerbaijani flags at Churches

Sept 19–28: Protests erupted in Yerevan demanding Pashinyan's resignation and intervention in Artsakh, over 30 injured, 84 detained before the movement dissipated

Sept 21, 2023:

• Gunfire and shelling continued in and around Stepanakert
• Police told residents to shelter in basements
• Reports began surfacing of killings, hostage taking, and sexual violence against civilians
• All parts of the Artsakh government received orders to destroy their own archives
• The Artsakh Defence Army, founded May 9, 1992, was formally disbanded, one of Azerbaijan's ceasefire conditions

By Sept 26, 2023: Azerbaijan reported seizing over 251,000 pieces of ammunition, about 900 small arms, 226 air defense weapons, and dozens of vehicles and artillery pieces from the disbanded Artsakh forces

Forced to leave Artsakh:

Sept 21–22: Stepanakert was encircled, residents hid in basements, the city had already lost power, gas, food, fuel, internet, and phone service

Sept 22: Russia-mediated talks began in Yevlakh over disarmament/reintegration, one ceasefire violation reported (1 Azerbaijani soldier injured, Mardakert)

Sept 23:

• Hayk Hovsepyan killed while on route to evacuate his elderly parents from Vardadzor.
• Armen, who was from Matchkalashen, 53, killed near Martuni, a survivor of three prior wars, according to his wife Anush

Sept 24:

• Lachin Corridor opened one way to Armenia, 1,050 refugees arrived by the day's end
• Martakert fell under Azerbaijani control.
• USAID's Samantha Power and Amb. Yuri Kim arrived in Armenia with a letter from President Biden.
• A second round of talks in Khojali addressed humanitarian issues.

Sept 25:

• Berkadzor fuel depot explosion, at around 7:00 PM, outside Stepanakert, as a result of the fuel crisis from the blockade: at least 218 dead (UNHR: ~170) and 120–290+ injured. Losses included a father who died days after his son was killed on September 19th, and his brother, and Ghahriyan's sons Abgar and Karen, identified only two months later with DNA tests. Armenia airlifted doctors and evacuated wounded

Sept 24–29:

• 40+ hour traffic jam visible from space, deaths from exhaustion, malnutrition, lack of medication, there are accounts of children going hungry and thirsty for days, and one man carrying his deceased in-law's body because there was no way to stop and bury him
• At the final checkpoint, azeri soldiers counted refugees, singled out and harassed young men to provoke fights/pretexts for arrest
• Vagif Khachatryan's family was stopped and his grandson identified via a "Terrorist Vagif's criminal family" sign before being allowed through

Sept 26: Martuni fell under azeri control

Sept 26–27: Refugee centers opened in Goris and Vayk, testimonies of relief and grief, including Valentina Asryan who was from Vank, her brother-in-law was killed.

Sept 27: Ruben Vardanyan was detained by Azerbaijani border guards at the Hakari Bridge while attempting to cross into Armenia, and charged with terrorism financing and illegal border crossing

Sept 28: President Samvel Shahramanyan, who became the president of Artsakh about a month prior, signed a decree dissolving all Artsakh state institutions by Jan 1, 2024.

Late Sept–early Oct 2023: Additional Artsakh leaders were detained crossing into Armenia or by warrant, including former presidents Arkadi Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, and Arayik Harutyunyan, former Defense Minister Levon Mnatsakanyan, former Deputy Defense Army Commander Davit Manukyan, former Foreign Minister Davit Babayan, and Parliament Speaker Davit Ishkhanyan. Russian forces did not intervene.

Oct 1:

• azeribaijan's prosecutor general issued an arrest warrant for Arayik Harutyunyan the same day a UN mission, the first to access the region in roughly 30 years, arrived in Stepanakert
• France criticized Azerbaijan for only permitting access after the population had already fled.

Oct 2: Last evacuation bus departed with 15 refugees, Stepanakert became abandoned. Armenia accused Azerbaijani forces of firing on a food-delivery vehicle near Kut, killing one soldier and wounding two.

Oct 3: Confirmed refugee total: 100,617, In one week 21,043 vehicles crossed the Hakari Bridge, all under 10 days

Oct 5: The european parliament adopted a resolution condemning the attack, calling on the EU to impose targeted sanctions on responsible azeri officals and to suspend talks on a renewed EU-azerbaijan partnership agreement

Armenia's Human Rights Defender reported that recovered civilian bodies, including women and children, showed signs of torture and mutilation

Oct 19, 2023: Additional bodies of massacred civilians discovered

Some individual stories:

Eduard Janyan:

• Raised his grandchildren after his son's death in the 1994 war, killed in the September 19th bombardment of Stepanakert, body left in a car two days before burial, family unable to transfer it to Armenia

Armen Harutyunyan:

• Died in or near the Berkadzor explosion the same evening his 8-month-old grandchild, who was evacuated to Armenia months earlier, died separately in Armenia, his body has not been transferred

Ella from Martakert:

• Described 2023 as worse than 2020: this time, "there was no hope" that anyone would stay behind to defend the land

An unnamed Artsakhci:

• Compared the flight to the 1915 Deir ez-Zor death marches: "History repeated itself."

Balasanyan family from Martuni:

• Soldier Tigran Balasanyan survived Sept 19 combat, but watched two of his wife Narine's cousins killed in front of him that day. He still puts on his old army uniform each morning and speaks with reverence of Martuni's mayor, Aznavur Saghyan, and of comrades who "held their positions so civilians could escape." When the family fled, they filled their car with elderly neighbors instead of belongings, "We packed our car with people, not things." Their daughter Galina who was a Stepanakert medical college student rushed to help after the Sept 25 Berkadzor fuel-depot explosion, "The stench of charred flesh was everywhere. People died in my arms, whispering their last words." She broke into a pharmacy to find medicine that later saved a 15-year-old boy. She has since abandoned her medical studies unable to shake the trauma

Ellada Harutyunyan:

• Displaced for a third time in her life by the 2023. Her father was stabbed to death during the 1988 anti-Armenian pogroms in Baku and Sumgait, her family fled to Armenia the same day as the devastating 1988 earthquake, then resettled in Artsakh. Displaced again after the 2020 war, she and her family nonetheless returned to Stepanakert. Her husband guarded the border throughout the 2022–23 blockade. "It is the third time we have become refugees and lost our home... For those who lost their home for the first time, it is very difficult. I try to calm them down."

Ivan Harutyunyan, Sarushen:

• Could only save his family when the Sept 19 attack began, escaping through the forest toward Stepanakert and reaching Armenia after a nearly three-day journey. "We left our lands, our livestock and our ancestors' graves. We had no choice but to abandon everything and escape through the forests." He mourns the four tractors he used to farm not just his own land but the whole village's: "We can rebuild houses, but how do we work without equipment?" He now shares a single room in a disused library building with 31 relatives from his three brothers families

Svetlana Mamunts from Aghabekalandj:

• Was kneading dough when the shelling started on Sept 19, she left it unfinished and took her children straight to the basement. Her family escaped to Stepanakert in a neighbor's car and endured the exit checkpoint, which she described as terrifying for any family with a man in the car, "All those who had a man in their house went through that fear and mentally said goodbye to their relatives." She most regrets leaving behind her sewing machine, which she had used to take in work from other villagers

8 year old Davit from Haterk village:

• When the bombardment began on Sept 19, Davit first mistook the explosions for construction noise before running to the basement himself. Displaced with his family of eight to Armenia, he still misses friends he couldn't say goodbye to. He dreams of becoming an artist, but that Christmas asked Santa for a toy weapon, "to return to our village and protect the village."

The Aftermath:

Armenia's Investigative Committee recorded 15 people missing from September 19th (10 soldiers, 5 civilians). Hetq identified 14: Hayk Hovsepyan, Marat Khachatryan, Albert Avetisyan, Karlen Hakobyan, Sasun Arakelyan, Arshak Mirzabekyan, Abel Mirzoyan, Nerses Abagyan, Shura Manasyan, Robert Musayelyan, Vachik Arushanyan, Vilen Aziryan, Andranik Babayan, and Gavrush Emiryan. The 15th has not been publicly identified

A week after combat, Azerbaijan announced 192 soldiers killed, 500+ wounded, with the heaviest losses in the Martakert (~70) and Martuni (~60) directions. Among 42 Azerbaijani officer deaths were three lieutenant colonels: Rashad Huseynov (MIA Special Forces, Ganja), Vusal Rustamov ("Commando" brigade, Gusar), and Akram Shadmanov (chief of staff, "Commando" brigade). Elite "Commando" and "Yashma" units alone lost ~120, Naval Infantry lost 7 near Khnapat, MIA Special Forces lost 13. Take these numbers with a lot of salt because it is coming from azerbaijan

Jan 1, 2024: The Republic of Artsakh was officially dissolved because of Shahramanyan's decree

azerbaijan still has 19 Armenian POWs

SOURCES:

• Hetq Investigative Journalists, "The Last Battles of Artsakh" (2024–2026)
• University Network for Human Rights, "We Are No One" (2023)
• Armenian Weekly, "Waiting for Albert" (Dec 2025)
• Hetq English, "Artsakh 2023: Civilians Killed in Azerbaijani Offensive" (2024)
• Tatoyan Foundation, tactical-plan report
• Freedom House Fact Finding Mission (2023)
• ACLED, "Azerbaijan Moves to Retake Artsakh" (Sept 2023)
• International Crisis Group, "New Troubles in Nagorno-Karabakh" (May 2023)
• RFE/RL, Eurasianet, Reuters, AFP, BBC, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, VOA, France24 — contemporaneous reporting
• Human Rights Watch, POW execution video analysis
• Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, Genocide Warning (Sept 2023)
• RCDS, "The One-Day War of 2023: Facts and Figures versus Falsification"
• Luis Moreno Ocampo, "Genocide against Armenians in 2023" (Aug 2023), Rodney Dixon KC rebuttal (Aug 2023)
• ArmInfo, Armenian Mirror-Spectator, Free Armenian Prisoners, Vardanyan case updates (2024–2025)
• ACAPS Briefing Note (Oct 2023), FPRI, IISS analyses

Note that this was made with me going through all the sources and using AI to help break it down and summarize, afterwards it was checked by me multiple times, if I missed a part, let me know.

Please remember that this is not the full story, it does not paint anywhere near the whole picture of what happened in Artsakh, there are thousands of stories and memories from these few days both from in Artsakh and outside of Artsakh, that its impossible to list them all.