The Azerbaijanis positioned themselves in May 2018 in the area from which they have fired in the direction of Yelpin village. Edik Baghdasaryan, the editor-in-chief of Hetq online newspaper of Armenia, wrote this on Facebook.

"At that time, the commander of our corps was Artak Davtyan. Azerbaijanis had advanced their positions in the neutral zone, and a huge area came under their control. And the section of Areni-Yelpin villages of the interstate road came under direct fire. A few days after that, [PM] Nikol Pashinyan appointed Artak Davtyan as the Chief of the General Staff [of the Armed Forces]," Baghdasaryan added.