Azerbaijan has allocated $2 million to help Ukraine restore energy infrastructure damaged in recent Russian missile and drone attacks, President Ilham Aliyev announced Monday. The funds, drawn from the president’s reserve, will be transferred to the Ministry of Energy for the purchase and delivery of Azerbaijani-made electrical equipment, according to APA News Agency.
The decision follows a phone call between Aliyev and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, during which both leaders condemned recent Russian strikes on a SOCAR-operated oil depot in southern Ukraine and a gas compressor station used to transport Azerbaijani gas, Trend News Agency reported. Aliyev and Zelensky affirmed that the attacks would not disrupt bilateral energy cooperation.
Russian Shahed drones last week targeted a Transbalkan pipeline pumping and metering facility near the Ukraine-Romania border, through which Kyiv imported a trial shipment of gas sourced from Azerbaijan. The strike caused a fire visible from Romania, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine. Despite the attack, imports via the facility have held steady at about 425,000 cubic meters per day since early August, according to data from the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSOG).
The strikes also mark an escalation in tensions between Baku and Moscow. Relations have been strained since December, when Azerbaijan accused Russian forces of downing one of its civilian aircraft near Grozny, a claim Moscow denied. More recently, Azerbaijani nationals died in police custody in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, further souring ties.
The targeted Transbalkan pipeline facility had only recently handled Ukraine’s first test delivery of Azerbaijani gas under a new arrangement with Romania and Moldova, according to Oilprice.com. That shipment, completed in early August, was seen as a milestone in Kyiv’s effort to diversify supply away from Russian sources.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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