A call from Hakob on the former eastern front brings a stir to our room, steeped in tobacco over a month of war. Until now we have been gathering open-source data and have done a few interviews with refugees — here, 180 kilometres from the border with Artsakh, in safety.
Now Hakob has called Hasmik and said he is organising the evacuation of people and their belongings from territories that are about to pass to Azerbaijan. If we want to capture the last hours before the Azerbaijani flag is raised over Armenian land, now is the time.
In a single day we repair our wreck of a car so it can get us at least one way, but we are in luck: it turns out that David, the head of the Armenian community in Moscow, is already on his way to help Hakob. Over the month of war, he has collected and sent a great many helmets, bulletproof vests and humanitarian aid to Artsakh. We meet in Yerevan, two more friends get in the car, and we set off for Martakert.