Azerbaijan Leaves Ukraine Drone Deal Out of Official Readout Amid Renewed Russian Ties

Ukraine and Azerbaijan have signed contracts under a bilateral “Drone Deal” and are working to expand orders, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced following his meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Dublin on Thursday, Nov. 12. In a post on X, Zelensky highlighted the Drone Deal as the first priority discussed during the meeting.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “First and foremost, the Drone Deal. Contracts have been signed, and we are working to scale up orders,” he wrote. However, Azerbaijan’s presidential readout, published the same day, made no mention of the drone contracts or any bilateral defense cooperation. Instead, Baku focused on trade, private-sector ties, humanitarian assistance and Kyiv’s interest in Azerbaijan’s reconstruction efforts in Karabakh and East Zangezur. The contrasting accounts come as Azerbaijan expands military and energy cooperation with Moscow, including a Russian-backed armored-vehicle repair program, discussions over Russian air-defense systems and plans to resume gas purchases from Gazprom. Zelensky also urged Azerbaijan to help protect Ukraine’s critical infrastructure against Russian attacks. “We would appreciate it if Azerbaijan could also find a way to support Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and logistics ahead of winter,” he said. Neither government disclosed the financial value of the drone contracts, the specific systems involved or a timeline for expanding orders. Other Topics of Interest The three leaders will discuss nuclear arms and Iran at a historic summit, while Washington says Ukraine peace negotiations will remain on a separate track. The defense cooperation was first discussed during Zelensky’s April 25 visit to Gabala, Azerbaijan, where he and Aliyev signed six bilateral agreements, including on defense-industrial cooperation and joint production. On Aug. 6, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov made his first visit to Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. During talks with Zelensky, the two sides discussed implementing the Drone Deal alongside energy and economic cooperation. Baku reportedly signs Russian armored-vehicle repair deal Azerbaijan’s public silence on its defense deals with Kyiv comes just weeks after Moscow announced new military-technical cooperation with Baku. On Nov. 1, Dmitry Shugayev, head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, told the Russian Defense Ministry’s Zvezda television channel that Moscow and Baku had signed a program to build and modernize facilities for repairing armored vehicles used by Azerbaijan’s military. “An entire program has been signed that provides for the modernization and construction of facilities to repair armored vehicles in service with the Azerbaijani army,” Shugayev said, noting that the program involves Russian technical support for Azerbaijan’s military maintenance infrastructure. Shugayev also raised the possibility of selling Russian Pantsir-S1 surface-to-air missile and gun systems to Baku, expressing confidence that the two sides would reach an agreement. Baku has not publicly announced a purchase agreement for the systems. The developments followed a Sept. 30 meeting in Baku between Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov and a Russian delegation led by Deputy Defense Minister Vasily Osmakov, where both sides discussed expanding military-technical cooperation, according to Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry. Azerbaijan signals return to Russian gas Alongside its defense outreach, Baku has signaled a willingness to revive energy ties with Moscow despite Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. During Russian Energy Week in Moscow on Oct. 16, Elshad Nasirov, vice president of Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR, announced that Baku wanted to resume purchasing natural gas from Russia’s state-owned giant Gazprom. “We can proudly say that our cooperation with such a giant company as Gazprom is a very good example,” Nasirov said, according to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency. While SOCAR has yet to announce specific volumes or delivery details, the move raises fresh questions about Azerbaijan’s role as an alternative gas supplier to Europe as the EU works to phase out Russian fossil fuels. Sevinj Osmanqizi is an experienced journalist who writes extensively for Kyiv Post on foreign policy, international security and geopolitics. Based in Washington, D.C., her work focuses on Ukraine, Russia’s war and the broader post-Soviet space.