The mothers of wounded servicemen have been spending night and day in front of the reanimation department of Erebuni Medical Center for over two weeks, and the only thing they want to hear from the doctors is that their sons will stay alive.

The four servicemen in the reanimation department are still in extremely heavy condition.

Almost all the organs of 27-year-old contractual serviceman Eric Babayan were damaged after he was shot at the Nagorno-Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. His mother, Alvina Karapetyan says almost everyone in Martakert and Talish are soldiers and that military service is their only occupation. “My son received an education and became a sergeant…He is our family’s only breadwinner.”

While we were talking to Alvina, her son was being taken to a room for another surgery.

Arman Lazgyan, 18, was wounded in Mataghis and is also in an extremely heavy situation. Arman had called his parents from Nagorno-Karabakh and had asked them to see his friend in Yerevan whose leg had been cut off. Arman’s mother, Greta Movsisyan says she and her husband weren’t able to fulfill his request because they hadn’t stepped out of the house when they found out that their son had also been wounded. “They came and told us that they had brought Arman in a helicopter…We have been praying for the boys for eleven days. I believe that the boys will recover.”

Conscript Andrey Vardumyan, 19, left his studies behind at the University of Economics. His father is the only breadwinner of the five-member family and is currently working abroad, but he returned to Armenia after learning about what had happened to his son.

Andrey was wounded on the frontline on April 3. He doesn’t remember details, but remembers that the doctors said that the bullet had gone in and come out of his ribs. “I’m still thinking about walking by myself. I’m having some trouble, but my legs are in poor condition. The doctors say I will definitely walk.”

Artur Arzangulyan, who is from Nagorno-Karabakh, went to the “Yeghnikner” military unit as a volunteer. He is the only breadwinner of his family of seven, but doesn’t have a stable job. After being shot in the hand, shoulder and lung on the frontline, Artur found out that his friend had been killed while standing next to him at that moment. The Defense Army had stated that there was no need for volunteers, but that didn’t stand in Artur’s way. “It doesn’t matter. If necessary, I will go because I am protecting my parents and children,” Artur said.

According to him, the soldiers are aware that the opponent has more state-of-the-art military equipment, but they still have the fighting spirit. “Weapons are not important. The important thing is the spirit. Even our 18-year-old soldiers have great fighting spirit. Be strong, boys!”

Out of the 125 servicemen wounded as a result of the military actions that were launched on the Nagorno-Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact in April, 45 are undergoing treatment at the central military hospital and 18 are undergoing treatment at other hospitals in Yerevan. Five of them are in extremely heavy condition. The Ministry of Defense hasn’t updated this information that was released four days ago.

Narine Ghalechyan

azatutyun.am.