Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky arrived in Azerbaijan on a working visit and met with the country’s President Ilham Aliyev.
The meeting between Aliyev and Zelensky will be held in the city of Gabala, according to the website of the President of Azerbaijan. Aliyev published photos of the meeting.
Zelensky wrote that he had “important negotiations” with Aliyev. The President of Ukraine, who also posted the photo, added: “Mutual respect and cooperation strengthen our two peoples.”
Ukraine began to grow closer to Azerbaijan against the backdrop of cooling relations between Moscow and Baku after the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash in December 2024. In January 2025, Zelensky and Aliyev met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and in August, they called for the condemnation of “targeted Russian air strikes” on the oil depot of the Azerbaijani company SOCAR in Ukraine.
In February 2026, the building of the Azerbaijani embassy in Kyiv was attacked by Russia. Aliyev noted that this was happening for the third time and accused Moscow of a “deliberate attack” on the diplomatic mission.