[20][21][22][23][24] Azerbaijani forces attacked military and civilian positions in Vardenis, Goris, Sotk, Jermuk, and other cities[25] with artillery, drones, and heavy weapons.

[41][42][43][44][45][46][47] The fighting ended with Azerbaijani troops taking control of strategic positions deep inside Armenia, with at least 7600 civilians displaced from Armenian provinces.

[63] On 12 May 2021, Azerbaijani soldiers crossed several kilometers into Armenia in the provinces of Syunik and Gegharkunik and occupied about 41 square kilometres (16 sq mi) of Armenian territory.

[64][65][66][67] The European Parliament, as well as the United States and France – two of the three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group – called on Azerbaijan to withdraw its troops from internationally recognised Armenian territory.

[76] The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry said that Armenia had staged "large-scale provocations" near the Dashkasan, Kalbajar, and Lachin regions and had laid mines along the army's supply roads.

The Azerbaijani MoD reported that they were taking measures to "suppress the firing points of the Armenian armed forces and to prevent the expansion of the scale of the confrontation".

The Armenian MFA also stated that as a result of Azerbaijani shelling, many residential houses were damaged in the village of Kut, while women and children were evacuated.

[83] The Armenian MoD called this "another disinformation" which "serves as an information base for carrying out military aggression against the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia".

[94] On 29 September Armenia MoD reported that Azerbaijani forces used mortars and weapons of large caliber, shelling the eastern part of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, as a result 3 Armenian soldiers died.

Based on the published photos, as a result of the shelling, the barracks and military equipment of the Russian troops were damaged[97][98] Videos of war crimes committed by Azerbaijani forces presumably occurring during the September 2022 offensive began to circulate online after the event.

Davit Gishian, a POW who was seen injured and being insulted on an amateur video spread on Azerbaijani social media, was among the bodies of soldiers returned to the Armenian side.

Former Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan reported that 35 opposition MPs signed a document to begin the impeachment procedure against Pashinyan.

The president of the self-proclaimed republic, Arayik Harutyunyan, responded to the protests by making a statement in which he rejected the prospect of Nagorno-Karabakh being part of Azerbaijan under any status, saying "the people of Artsakh decide their own destiny in their own homeland".

[132] A number of Azerbaijani activists and opposition politicians voiced their criticism of the Azerbaijan government on their social media accounts following the military attacks.

[133] Ali Karimli and Arif Hajili questioned the high number of deaths and the reason for the offensive, while others like Azar Gasimli and Nida Civic Movement posted anti-war messages.

The youth wing of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party (YAP) published a video compilation of various opposition representatives, who had expressed criticism with respect to the military attack, under the hashtag "#xainləritanı", which stands for: “know the traitors.”[134] Ahmad Mammadli, the chair of an Azerbaijani pro-democracy group, was allegedly abducted on 20 September and later sentenced to 30 days in prison by a district court in Baku.

Independent Azerbaijani lawyer Samad Rahimli stated that he believes the prison sentence was ‘for criticizing the recent border clashes and Ilham Aliyev’.

[135][136] On 15 September, Qarabağ FK requested from UEFA for a minute of silence to be observed in honor of the fallen Azerbaijani soldiers during the Europa League group stage match against FC Nantes in Baku.

Following that, the team's largest fan group, İmarət Tayfa, published a statement calling on everyone to observe a minute of silence after the starting whistle to respect the memories of the deceased Azerbaijani soldiers.

"[47] Certain journalists and human rights organizations condemned popular media for not naming the aggressor and for misreporting the conflict as taking place in Nagorno-Karabakh.

"[143] Brandon Balayan, an American journalist, says that The New York Times and The Associated Press inaccurately reported the fighting as "an ordinary [border] skirmish...over Nagorno-Karabakh...when in reality Azerbaijan attacked Armenia proper.