Trump receives incorrect information or does not receive it at all. How long did the ceasefire hold in Artsakh?

Speaking to reporters in Pennsylvania on October 26, US President Donald Trump said that the ceasefire announced on the same day in Nagorno Karabakh is being observed.

When asked by a journalist whether the ceasefire is holding, the US President said: “It’s holding. The ceasefire is holding. OK?”

Note that late in the evening of October 25, the US Department of State issued a statement informing that an agreement had been reached with the Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities on establishing a humanitarian ceasefire since October 26, 8:00 am.

This was the third attempt at establishing a ceasefire since the start of hostilities in Artsakh on September 27.

However, the US President’s assertion about the ceasefire being observed is puzzling.

On October 26, shortly after the ceasefire came into effect, both Azerbaijan and Armenia reported violations of the ceasefire.

Spokesperson for the Armenian Defense Ministry Shushan Stepanyan informed at 8:59 am that the Azerbaijani side had fired artillery at the north-eastern military positions in Artsakh at around 8:45 am.

“Another ceasefire violation was recorded at approximately 09:10am. The Azerbaijani side targeted positions located in the south-eastern direction, firing 5 artillery shells,” Stepanyan informed at 9:21am.

The Human Rights Defender’s Office of Artsakh wrote a post at 15:49, stating that the Azerbaijani side continued to shell the civilian settlements of Artsakh in violation of the October 26 agreement on a ceasefire. “During the day, a number of settlements were targeted, including the village of Avetaranots in the Askeran region, where an hour ago, from the fire of ”Smerch” multiple rocket launcher, a civilian, Gevorg Hambardzumyan, was killed; and two civilians, Henrikh Adamyan and Andrey Hambardzumyan, were wounded.”

The journalists of the Armenian service of Radio Liberty and CivilNet, who were in Sarushen community of Askeran region of Artsakh at that time, also reported about the ceasefire violations.

Mayor Karen Gasparyan told reporters that although no bomb had fallen on their village that day, the surrounding area and neighboring communities were shelled.

Thus, the information of US President Donald Trump that the ceasefire is holding in Nagorno Karabakh does not correspond to reality.

Loosineh Voskanyan

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