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“Severe clashes between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces in the South-Eastern and North-Eastern directions along the Line of Contact. In response to intensive and large-scale artillery shelling by Azerbaijani armed forces in the dawn of April 3, the Defense Army units undertook appropriate measures and in the direction of Talish reclaimed an important position occupied by Azerbaijani forces yesterday”, - press statement from the Defense Ministry of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic informs.

According to the written statement, “the adversary had considerable losses and thrown back”. On the Karabakh side, two servicemen of the Defense Army were wounded.

On the Southern direction of the NKR-Azerbaijani border, two Azerbaijani tanks and one military armored vehicle had been destroyed.

In the afternoon of April 2, according to Interfax news agency citing local sources in NKR military, the Azerbaijani army units, including five tanks, had been encircled in the North-Eastern direction of the Line of Contact.

“Overall, during the entire period of armed clashes the Azerbaijani side has suffered the loss of more than 200 servicemen, as well as two tanks, two drones and two helicopters”, - claimed the NKR MOD in a written statement in the afternoon of April 2.

In the early morning of April 2 the official statement from Karabakh Defense Army confirmed that Vaghinak Grigoryan, 2004, killed, and two other children wounded in a shell launched from MM-21 artillery rocket system in the direction of Martuni positions. Reports confirmed the incident occurred on April 2 at about 08:30.

Speaking at the National Security Council meeting late in the evening of April 2, President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia confirmed that Defense Army had 18 servicemen killed and 35 wounded in the “unprecedented” Azerbaijani offensive. President Sargsyan also praised the professionalism of the Defense Army of Nagorno Karabakh Republic demonstrated during the combat operations in response to the Azerbaijani large-scale offensive, saying their decisions have been “timely, necessary and correct”.

“However, we should make a step further. I think the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should cooperate with the Foreign Ministry of Nagorno Karabakh aimed at concluding a bilateral treaty on mutual military assistance. We should draft the text of the treaty, hold relevant discussions and send it to the National Assembly. The Republic of Armenia will fully fulfill its responsibility to protect the security of the people of Nagorno Karabakh, and we have also the legal rights for that, since we are a party to the 1994 ceasefire agreement,” the President concluded.

The UN Security Council adopted four resolutions between April and November, 1993, calling for “effective and permanent” ceasefire, as well as “immediate implementation of the reciprocal and urgent steps” in that direction.

Armenia has been under effective land blockade not only by Azerbaijan since the early days of fighting in Nagorno Karabakh, but also by Turkey – a staunch ally of Azerbaijan and a NATO member -- since April 1993.