Armenia marks May 9: the 77th anniversary of victory in Great Patriotic War, as well as the anniversaries of the liberation of Karabakh’s Shushi and the establishment of the Artsakh Army.

Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) will pay tribute to the Armenians who created the victories and became immortal, to the veterans of the Patriotic War, as well as to the Armenian heroes who fought selflessly in the 44-day Artsakh war in the fall of 2020, who gave their lives for the defense of Artsakh and its Shushi city; but Shushi is again occupied by Azerbaijan.

A number of respective events are planned for May 9 in Armenia and Artsakh.

About 600,000 Armenians took part in the Great Patriotic War during World War II. Around half of them died courageously. Six Armenian divisions of the USSR army and seven more divisions most of which comprising Armenians fought on the frontlines of the Great Patriotic War.

The Armenian people gave four marshals and one admiral to the Homeland. About seventy Armenian generals were commanding divisions and larger military companies. More than one hundred of them became heroes of the USSR and two of them—two-time heroes of the USSR .

May 9 became another day of pride and victory in the modern history of Armenians. The operation for liberating Artsakh's Shushi town concluded on that day in 1992.

Sushi had turned into an Azerbaijani military base during the Nagorno-Karabakh War that was unleashed by Azerbaijan.

The aforesaid operation got underway at around 2am on May 8, 1992. The offensive was carried out in several directions, it lasted about 26 hours, and as a result, all military units of the adversary abandoned Shushi by 4am on May 9.

The Armenian side gave 58 loses during this military operation, whereas the Azerbaijani army suffered between 250 and 300 casualties.

The liberation of Shushi was a crucial phase in the Nagorno-Karabakh War.

But on September 27, 2020, Azerbaijan launched aggressive military operations against Artsakh—and with the support of Turkey and mercenary terrorists. And after its occupation of Shushi in November, it began to destroy the city and its Armenian trace.

May 9 also marks the anniversary of the establishment of the Artsakh Defense Army. It was formally formed on May 5, 1992, uniting the separate self-defense military units still operating since 1990.