Battle of Shusha (1992)

Battle of Shusha (Shushi)
	Part of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War
	; Gagik Avsharyan's restored T-72 tank commemorating the capture of Shusha. The tank was removed in 2023.
Date	8–9 May 1992
Location	Shusha
Result	Armenian victory Siege of Stepanakert ended; Land corridor with Armenia secured;
Belligerents
Nagorno-Karabakh; Armenia	Azerbaijan; Russia Chechen militants
Commanders and leaders
Arkady Ter-Tadevosyan; Samvel Babayan; Seyran Ohanyan; Gurgen Dalibaltayan; Jirair Sefilian; Vardan Stepanyan	Rahim Gaziyev; Elbrus Orujev; Elkhan Orujev; Shamil Basayev; Salman Raduyev
Strength
1,000–1,800 troops; 4 tanks; 2 Mil Mi-24 helicopters	2,500 troops; Several tanks; BM-21 Grad artillery
Casualties and losses
35–58 killed	150–200 killed; 300 wounded; 13–68 POW
	~15,000 Azerbaijanis displaced

39°45.5′N 46°44.9′E

The Battle of Shusha (Armenian: Շուշի, Shushi) was the first significant military victory by Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The battle took place in the strategically important mountain town of Shusha on the evening of 8 May 1992, and fighting swiftly concluded the next day after Armenian forces captured it and drove out the defending Azerbaijanis. Armenian military commanders based in Nagorno-Karabakh's capital of Stepanakert had been contemplating capturing the town after Azerbaijani shelling of Stepanakert from Shusha for half a year had led to hundreds of Armenian civilian casualties and mass destruction in Stepanakert.

The capture of the town proved decisive. Shusha was the most important military stronghold that Azerbaijan held in Nagorno-Karabakh – its loss marked a turning point in the war, and led to a series of military victories by Armenian forces in the course of the conflict.

In 2020, Azerbaijani army recaptured Shusha during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.

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