Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have condemned Russia’s targeted missile attack on an oil depot and other facilities belonging to Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company in Ukraine’s Odessa city. The oil depot was hit by four Iran-made Shaheed drones on Friday and marked the latest attack on critical infrastructure linked to Azerbaijan. Four SOCAR employees were injured in the strike.
In a phone conversation initiated by Zelenskiy on Sunday, the two leaders stressed that the targeted attack on SOCAR’s oil depot and gas compressor station transporting Azerbaijani gas to Ukraine would not lead to suspension of cooperation in energy sector. Zelenskiy and Aliyev reminded the meeting of the intergovernmental commission held in Baku in July that focused on the framework of the development of economic and trade relations.
Earlier, Russia struck a gas distribution center in Ukraine’s Orliivka city bordering Romania. The station is part of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline transporting Azerbaijani gas to Ukraine. The Russian media has repeatedly described Azerbaijan’s energy infrastructure as a “legitimate target” in Ukraine.
It should be noted that Azerbaijan’s relations with its former ally Russia have sharply deteriorated since Russian air defence system’s downing of Azerbaijani passenger plane in December last year. Aliyev announced during a media conference in Nagorno Karabakh last month that Baku would take Moscow to the international court over the deadly AZAL crash. Aliyev demanded from Russia a public acknowledgement of its involvement in the crash and compensation to families of the killed passengers.
