The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry announced the destruction of the S-300 air defense system of the Armenian Military Forces on the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to the military department on Wednesday, September 30.
“Yesterday, during the fighting on the territory of Shushakend, Khojavend region (the contact line in Karabakh. – Ed.), The enemy’s S-300 anti-aircraft missile system was disabled,” they said.
The ministry claims that the Armenian Armed Forces lost up to 2.3 thousand people in killed and wounded.
“Since September 27, the losses of the Armenian Armed Forces in battles against Azerbaijan are up to 2.3 thousand killed and wounded, up to 130 tanks and other heavy equipment, more than 200 artillery and other installations, up to 25 air defense systems,” the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said.
The day before, the Azerbaijani defense department announced the defeat of two battalions of the Armenian armed forces in Karabakh.
Earlier on the same day, the representative of the Armenian Defense Ministry Artsun Hovhannisyan stated that 137 armored vehicles of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces have been destroyed in Nagorno-Karabakh since the beginning of the escalation of the conflict.
In addition, on Tuesday, the press secretary of the Armenian Ministry of Defense Shushan Stepanyan reported that the Turkish F-16 shot down an Armenian Su-25 in the airspace of Armenia, the pilot of the attack aircraft was killed. Ankara and Baku have denied these statements by Yerevan.
The aggravation of relations between Yerevan and Baku took place on September 27. The sides accused each other of shelling on the contact line in Karabakh. Martial law and mobilization have been declared in the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) and Armenia. There is partial mobilization in Azerbaijan.
Relations between Yerevan and Baku remain tense over the issue of the ownership of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region, located in the eastern part of the Armenian Highlands, announced its secession from the Azerbaijan SSR in 1988. However, Baku considers the territory to be its own.