Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has condemned Russian air strikes on Azerbaijani oil and gas facilities in Ukraine but said energy cooperation between Baku and Kiev would continue, Reuters reported, citing a statement from the Azerbaijani president's press service after a telephone conversation between Aliyev and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
"During the conversation, the two sides condemned Russia's deliberate air strikes on a crude oil depot owned by the Azerbaijani company "SOCAR" (Azerbaijani State Oil Company) in Ukraine, as well as against other Azerbaijani facilities and the gas metering station transporting gas to Ukraine," Aliyev's press service said in a statement.
"They (Aliev and Zelensky) expressed their confidence that these attacks would not hinder energy cooperation between Azerbaijan and Ukraine," the text added.
Earlier this week, Russia struck a crude oil depot and a gas metering station used to import liquefied natural gas from the United States and Azerbaijan near the village of Novosilske in Ukraine's Odessa region, according to sources and Ukrainian officials.
Ukrainian officials said Russia hit the Orlovka gas metering station near the Romanian border in the Izmail region, through which liquefied natural gas to Ukraine from Azerbaijan passes. The Trans-Balkan gas pipeline also passes through Bulgaria. Late last month, Ukraine's state energy company "Naftogaz" announced it had signed its first agreement with Azerbaijan's "SOCAR" to import liquefied natural gas via the Trans-Balkan Gas Pipeline, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian infrastructure and energy facilities in the country are often targeted by Russian strikes. In recent months, Russian forces have stepped up their drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns, Reuters noted.