Ukrainian, Azerbaijani Leaders Affirm 'Territorial Integrity' In Talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (left) and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev meet in Bulboaca, Moldova, on June 1.

KYIV -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on October 4 said he and Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev both "affirmed our commitment to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity" during a telephone conservation.

"We also discussed regional security, actual challenges, and formats of mutual cooperation," Zelenskiy's statement on Telegram said.

Aliyev's office in a statement confirmed the call and stressed that Zelenskiy also expressed thanks to Azerbaijan for the humanitarian aid that Baku has sent to Ukraine to tackle problems caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022.

Since the beginning of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, Azerbaijan has provided Kyiv with a significant amount of equipment for restoration of energy infrastructure that was destroyed or damaged during attacks by Russian forces.

The talks were held two weeks after Baku gained full control over the mostly ethnic Armenian-populated breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh following a one-day offensive against the separatist government's armed forces.

More than 100,000 Armenians have fled for Armenia since then, representing nearly all of the territory's population.

Ukraine has been fighting against Russian forces that captured several districts of Ukraine's eastern regions of Zaporizhzhya and Kherson.

In 2014, Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and backed separatists in parts of two eastern Ukrainian regions -- Luhansk and Donetsk.

Some political analysts in Azerbaijan and Ukraine have said the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh -- which is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but was under separatist control for more than 30 years -- is analogous to the situation in Russian-occupied Crimea and other illegally occupied territories of Ukraine.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service