October 25, 2023

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Karine, 24, had just given birth to her second child – a daughter named Mane – and was looking forward to her family arriving at the maternity hospital in Martakert, a town in Karabakh, to bring her and the baby home.

At Karine’s house on the outskirts of town, her close friend and sister-in-law, Mariam, was decorating the house and laying the table for a celebration to welcome the newest member of their family. With her were her husband Hrach and their two children, and her brother-in-law, – Karine's husband – Artyom.

But the joyful homecoming never happened. Messages began to circulate telling people to take cover. At the hospital, doctors told Karine and other mothers on the ward to head down to the basement with their newborns.

“At that moment, the main fear I had was that my son was in kindergarten,” Karine said. “I was thinking: ‘Where will he be … what will happen to him?’.