Hadrut, a Nagorno-Karabakh town which both Armenians and Azerbaijanis claim to have under their control, is still under heavy shelling despite the two bitter enemies supposedly embracing a proclaimed ceasefire on Saturday.
An RT crew paid a quick visit to the “least-safe” place in the disputed region, on Monday.
Hadrut is small town, with a population of about 4,000, that lies on the southern stretch of the Nagorno-Karabakh frontline. Last week, Baku suggested that its defenses had fallen and Azerbaijani forces had taken control of the area. Both Yerevan and the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic denied the claim.
Despite the humanitarian ceasefire agreed by Baku and Yerevan starting from Saturday, fighting and shelling around Hadrut has continued. RT correspondent on the ground Igor Zhdanov called it “the least-safe place in all of the region.”
The RT crew was able to film cars and buildings apparently damaged by fighting, with the streets looking completely lifeless. Locals escorting the journalists didn’t allow them to stay in the open for longer than one minute amid constant shelling. Zhdanov said the part of the town they managed to visit was controlled by Armenians.
As the danger grew, the journalists were forced to flee to a basement serving as an interim shelter. They then had to sprint to their cars and quickly leave Hadrut, while bombs and shells pounded the area.
Explosions could be seen and heard in the footage as the cars drove along a mountain road.
The Russia-brokered truce was the first diplomatic deal clinched since fighting over the mountainous enclave started on September 27. However, the actual fighting didn’t stop, with Armenians and Azerbaijanis accusing each other of violating the ceasefire deal.
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