Baku, Kyiv Denounce Russian Attacks on Azerbaijani Energy Sites in Ukraine

(MENAFN) Baku and Kyiv jointly denounced Russian airstrikes targeting Azerbaijani energy infrastructure in Ukraine during a Sunday phone call between President Ilham Aliyev and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“During the conversation, both sides condemned the deliberate airstrikes by Russia on an oil storage facility owned by Azerbaijan’s (state oil and gas company) SOCAR in Ukraine,” the Azerbaijani presidency said in an official statement following the call.

The statement further detailed that the leaders condemned attacks on “other Azerbaijani facilities and a gas compressor station transporting Azerbaijani gas to Ukraine,” adding: “They emphasized their confidence that these attacks would not hinder energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy also shared on X that both parties have achieved “significant achievements” in energy cooperation and agreed to keep working to enhance their capabilities in this area.

“I informed (Aliyev) about Russian strikes on our energy facilities. Ukraine considers this a deliberate attempt by Russia to block the energy routes that ensure energy independence for us and other European countries,” Zelenskyy said.

The strikes come after reports on Friday from media that a drone attack damaged SOCAR’s oil depot in Odesa overnight, igniting a fire and harming a diesel fuel pipeline.

Earlier this month, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry reported that another Russian overnight airstrike hit a compressor station close to the Romanian border, highlighting that “test volumes of Azerbaijani gas were already being delivered” via the facility.

Russia’s Defense Ministry acknowledged the attack, stating it caused “damage on gas transportation system facilities that support the operation of enterprises of Ukraine's military-industrial complex.” So far, Russian officials have not responded to the recent phone conversation between the Ukrainian and Azerbaijani presidents.

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