Zelenskyy Signs 6 Deals With Aliyev in Gabala Visit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made his first official visit to Azerbaijan since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, signing six bilateral agreements with President Ilham Aliyev at the Gabala residence on Saturday. The visit also marked Zelenskyy's first trip to the South Caucasus during the war.

Gabala Talks

According to the Kyiv Independent, Kyiv Post, Interfax-Ukraine, Azernews and Trend.Az, Aliyev hosted Zelenskyy at the Gabala residence for a one-on-one meeting followed by expanded delegation talks. The six agreements signed cover defense-industrial complex and military-technical cooperation, joint production of military products including in Azerbaijan, energy, education, humanitarian assistance such as for children evacuated from border areas, and a trilateral peace track.

Aliyev said that "Ukraine and Azerbaijan have supported and will continue to support the territorial integrity" of the two countries, per Trend.Az and Azernews.

Peace Track and Drone Expertise

Zelenskyy told reporters: "We have informed the President of Azerbaijan that we are ready for trilateral talks." He added that Ukraine is ready to host a next round of peace negotiations with Russia in Azerbaijan if Moscow agrees, according to Euronews.

Zelenskyy thanked Aliyev for "11 energy support packages" provided since 2022 and said Ukrainian military experts have been deployed to Azerbaijan to share anti-drone expertise, per the Kyiv Independent and Interfax-Ukraine.

Strategic Significance

The visit positions Baku as a potential venue for a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting at the very moment when the Iran diplomatic track in Pakistan collapsed. The defense co-production agreement is also strategically significant, with Ukraine exporting drone-warfare know-how built up over more than three years of war and Azerbaijan, fresh from the 2024 Karabakh chapter, expanding its military-industrial base.

The visit comes the same day Russia launched one of its largest aerial bombardments of the war against Ukraine, killing at least seven people, with Dnipro hardest hit.