Zelensky Visits Azerbaijan for Security, Energy Talks

The Ukrainian president’s first South Caucasus visit since 2022 comes as Baku and Moscow move to ease tensions following the 2024 AZAL plane downing. Make us preferred on Google Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied This handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Service in Davos on January 22, 2025, shows President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on the sideline of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP) Content Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Flip Make us preferred on Google President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Azerbaijan, AFP reported, citing a Ukrainian official. “We landed in Azerbaijan,” the official said, adding that the visit was aimed at “security and energy cooperation, coordination.” Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official . The trip follows Zelensky’s visit to Saudi Arabia, where he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Kyiv seeks to share its drone expertise with Gulf countries affected by the war in Iran. This is the first visit by a Ukrainian leader to a South Caucasus country since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It also signals how far some post-Soviet republics have come in distancing themselves from the Kremlin’s dominance. Two days before the start of the war, Azerbaijan and Russia signed a strategic partnership declaration in Moscow on Feb. 22, 2022. Azerbaijan has repeatedly expressed support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine since 2022. However, it has kept a somewhat low-key position on the war, often sticking to the “Russia-Ukraine conflict” narrative. A pro-Ukraine rally in the capital, Baku, signaled warmer public support for Ukraine’s fight to defend its sovereignty. That changed in December 2024, when Russia shot down an Azerbaijani AZAL plane, causing a crash that killed 38 people, many of them Azerbaijani nationals. Russia blamed Ukraine for the incident. Azerbaijani media speculated about technical problems with president Ilham Aliyev’s own plane in Russian airspace as it was flying to St. Petersburg to attend Putin’s informal meeting of CIS leaders. The Azerbaijani Turan news agency reported that the aircraft lost its GPS signal en route. Other Topics of Interest Trump Says Prince Harry Does Not Speak for the UK The exchange followed Prince Harry’s visit to Kyiv and remarks urging Washington to honor its diplomatic commitments and push for an end to the war. “The similarities in the technical problems encountered by Aliyev’s and the crashed AZAL planes are striking, in particular, the loss of GPS signals over Russian-controlled airspace,” the agency wrote. The agency later said the story reflected the author’s own perception and closed down a few days later. Aliyev has not flown to Russia since the AZAL plane downing. In the aftermath, Zelensky called Aliyev to offer help with the investigation and discuss assistance in bringing the case to an international court, similar to Ukraine’s case over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. Answering Ukrainian journalists at Azerbaijan’s 3rd Shusha Global Media Forum in July 2025, Aliyev said, “We may wait like Ukraine did for 10 years if needed,” referring to Ukraine’s efforts to hold Russia accountable for the downing of Malaysia Airlines plane. On April 15, 2026, the Russian and Azerbaijani foreign ministries signed a declaration resolving the 2024 AZAL Flight 8243 crash, describing the incident as an “unintentional action” by Russian air defenses. The agreement settled compensation issues and marked a diplomatic effort to move beyond the incident. It was not immediately clear whether Baku was still considering taking the case to an international court. As Zelensky was on his way to his first visit to Azerbaijan since the start of the war, five Azerbaijani tankers were removed Wednesday from the EU’s 20th sanctions package against Russia. The tankers, owned by the Azerbaijani State Shipping Company and SOCAR, had been targeted for allegedly helping Russia’s shadow fleet. Sevinj Osmanqizi is a journalist covering US foreign policy, security, and geopolitics, with a focus on the broader post-Soviet space. She reports on Washington’s decision-making and its implications for Ukraine and regional stability.