Nagarno Kharabak Updates: Shushi/Shusha, Tank Losses/Electronic Warfare, Overthrowing Pashinian? Part 1

 Russian President Vladimir Putin informed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call about phone talks with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia aimed at looking for a solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

According to the Kremlin press office, both presidents confirmed readiness to seek peace for Nagorno-Karabakh.

"[The two presidents] focused on the situation in the zone of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The Russian president informed his Turkish counterpart about a series of his telephone contacts with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Those contacts sought options for the cessation of hostilities at the soonest possible time and for finding a political and diplomatic solution. Mutual readiness to cooperate so as to achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict was confirmed," the statement said.

On Saturday, the Turkish presidential office said that Erdogan insisted that Yerevan should be persuaded to sit at the negotiation table. He pointed out that a permanent solution to that conflict was a key factor for stability in the region, according to the press release.

Over 2,480 houses, 97 multi-apartment residential buildings, and 461 civilian infrastructure facilities have been damaged or completely destroyed in the wake of Armenian army's attacks on densely populated civilian areas in the cities and districts of Azerbaijan, including Ganja, Barda, Tartar, Agjabadi, Goranboy, Mingachevir, Kurdamir, Gabala, Aghdam, and Fuzuli.

The deadliest attack carried out by Armenia's forces took place in two consecutive missile fires on the Barda city of Azerbaijan on October 27 and 28. As a result of the attack, 27 civilians died and 107 wounded in the city that is home to 40,000 people and located at least 30 kilometers far from the battlefield in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan but occupied by Armenia.

    "Armenian forces either fired or supplied internationally banned cluster munitions and at least one other type of long-range rocket used in an attack on Barda city, 230 kilometers west of Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku on October 28, 2020," Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on October 30.
    
HRW analyzed the photos of cluster munition remnants found at and near the attack scene to conclude that the missile was a Smerch cluster munition rocket and a Smerch parachute-retarded high-explosive fragmentation rocket. A mix of large explosions and “pops” of smaller explosions that were heard following the attack was consistent with the detonations of the 9N235 submunitions, according to HRW. The 9N235 is a high explosive fragmentation submunition compatible with the Russia-made RSZO 9K58 "Smerch" multiple rocket launcher.

Prior to the attacks on Barda, Armenia's forces launched four separate rocket fire on Ganja, the second-largest city of Azerbaijan situated as far as 60 kilometers from the frontline, which has a population of over 500,000.