The Battle of Hadrut (; ) began in early October 2020 in Hadrut and its surrounding villages and heights, now seat of Khojavend District, Azerbaijan, and earlier controlled by the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh and was part of Hadrut Province.
Following Azerbaijan's capture of the city of Jabrayil, and claiming full dominance of the district of the same name, the Azerbaijani forces advanced north, to Hadrut. Heavy artillery fights took place starting from 7 October, and on 9 October, the Azerbaijani forces took control of strategically essential villages and heights just beside the town. Initially both parties claimed presence in the town however third-party sources indicated that the Azerbaijani forces had taken control of Hadrut on 14 or 15 October. In the meanwhile, more fights took place in north and west of the town, in contest of more important villages and heights until 30 October, when third-party sources confirmed the presence of Azerbaijani forces in a valley north of the town.
Background
Hadrut is a town located in south-west Azerbaijan, within the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region. From 10 September 1939, Hadrut was the capital of Hadrut District within the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic until the abolishment of the Autonomous Oblast on 26 November 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. During the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, in 1991, the Azerbaijani residents of Hadrut had to leave the town due to inter-ethnic conflict. In May of the same year, as part of Operation Ring, Soviet Internal Security Forces and OMON forcibly deported hundreds of Armenians living in the town. The town came under the control of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army on 2 October 1992. Hadrut's location is strategically important and connects southern parts of Karabakh to Stepanakert and Shusha.
Prelude
On 27 September 2020, clashes broke out in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is de facto controlled by the self-proclaimed and unrecognized Republic of Artsakh, but is de jure part of Azerbaijan. Two days later, Azerbaijani officials stated their forces destroyed an Armenian command-and-observation post in Hadrut.
On 1 October, Artsakh authorities stated that Hadrut was being shelled by Azerbaijani artillery. The Azerbaijani MoD stated that Azerbaijani forces were striking military facilities, namely the headquarters of the 18th Motorized Rifle Division, as well as the infrastructure of the 1st Motorized Rifle Regiment of the aforementioned division. The following day, Artsakh authorities stated that the Azerbaijani forces targeted Hadrut with Smerch MLRS twice.
On 4 October Azerbaijani President Aliyev announced that Azerbaijani forces had taken control of the city of Jabrayil as well as several settlements in Jabrayil District. On 7 October, the Azerbaijani MoD stated that the Azerbaijani forces were in control of Jabrayil District, just south of the town.
Battle
On 5 October, the Azerbaijani MoD stated that a battalion of the 1st Armenian Motorized Rifle Regiment, stationed in Hadrut, had fled. On 7 October, the Armenian authorities stated that the Azerbaijani forces were shelling Hadrut with heavy artillery.
On 9 October, at approximately 17:00, the Azerbaijani President announced that Azerbaijani forces had taken control of Hadrut, together with Əfəndilər, Qışlaq, Sor in south, Qaracallı, Süleymanlı, Yuxarı Güzlək, and Gorazıllı in the south-east of the town; This was denied by the self-proclaimed President of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, who stated that the Artsakh Defence Army was in full control of Hadrut. "Komsomolskaya Pravda", and "BBC Russian Service" also contested Aliyev's statements, stating that the town was under Azerbaijani control.
Just before 04:00 (00:00 GMT) on October 10, Russia reported that both Armenia and Azerbaijan had agreed on a humanitarian ceasefire after 10 hours of talks in Moscow (the Moscow Statement) and announced that both would enter "substantive" talks. Hostilities were formally halted at 12:00 (08:00 GMT), to allow an exchange of prisoners and the recovery of the dead, facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Nevertheless, the ceasefire was heavily violated by the both sides, leading to the ICRC halting attempts to recover the dead and exchange wounded and prisoners.