Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 25.04.22:

It has been highly active in recent days after they announced protests against the current government’s actions to protect Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

The opposition today has started its march from Ijevan to Yerevan, while there are sit-in protests for over a week in the Armenian capital’s square.

Meanwhile, Misak Avetisyan, the father of Senior Lieutenant Levon Avetisyan who died during the 44-day Artsakh war in the fall of 2020, declared a hunger strike until May 8.

He told reporters at Freedom Square in downtown Yerevan that he demands that the Prosecutor's Office and the National Security Service arrest Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan by May 8. Otherwise, on May 8, he will set himself on fire at Republic Square in downtown Yerevan.

In the meantime, a group of youth from the opposition Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun Party of Armenia have blocked streets in the capital Yerevan — and chanted "Armenia without Nikol" "Armenia without Turks," and " Union, fight, victory."

Some of them even got on top of a public transport bus, and held the national flag of Artsakh as well as a banner that reads, "It has begun."

However, later the police have apprehended—using disproportionate force—a group of young people.

And the ARF Youth Union informed that five of their members were taken to a police station for carrying out a peaceful awareness campaign

The FMs exchanged views as a follow-up to the agreements reached at the level of the leaders of both states.

The sides agreed on the structure of the Commission on delimitation and border security.

The two also discussed the issues related to addressing humanitarian issues, as well as preparation of works on peace negotiations.

The conversation came over a week after Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Brussels for talks hosted by European Council President Charles Michel. Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed to instruct their foreign ministers to start official negotiations on the comprehensive treaty and to set up before the end of this month a joint commission on the border demarcation.

Meanwhile, Denis Gonchar, Director of the Fourth Department of the CIS Countries of the Russian MFA said they will assist the agreement on a peace accord between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“The Russian side is ready to continue to help Baku and Yerevan in every way to find points of contact, to create a climate of trust and mutual understanding,” he said.

He won by 58.55% to 41.45%, a greater margin than expected.

The centrist leader told jubilant supporters at the foot of the Eiffel Tower that now the election was over he would be a "president for all".

He is the first sitting president in 20 years to be re-elected.

Despite her loss, Ms Le Pen, 53, said her significant vote share still marked a victory.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in turn, sent a congratulatory message to Emmanuel Macron on his victory.

“Armenia highly appreciates France's role as the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair in establishing long-term peace in our region, and hopes that it will continue during the second five-year term of your presidency,” the PM noted in a statement.

  • Five civilians, including two children, have died in a Russian attack in the southeastern Donetsk region, an official has said.

The children were aged five and 14 and lived in the village of Krasnohorivka, Donetsk defense chief Pavlo Kirilenko said late Sunday.

The three other victims were from the towns of Novoselivtsy and Novomikhailivtsy, he added.

Meanwhile, the Russian defense ministry said a humanitarian corridor will open at 2pm (11:00 GMT) for all civilians to leave the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. It said Russian troops will cease fire to allow civilians to safely exit the plant.

  • US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have met Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, and announced additional military assistance and the gradual return of American diplomats to the war-ravaged nation.

In the highest-level US visit to the capital since Russia started military operation in late February, Blinken and Austin told Zelenskyy and his advisers on Sunday that Washington would provide more than $300m in military financing and had approved a $165m sale of ammunition.

At a press conference in Poland after the meeting, Austin said of Zelenskyy: “He has the mindset that they want to win, and we have the mindset that we want to help them win.”

For his part, Blinken said the meeting was an “opportunity to demonstrate directly our strong ongoing support for the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people”