Baku, August 24 2025 — The war in Ukraine has once again claimed the life of a man with roots in Azerbaijan.
Rasim Kyazimov, born in Shamkir in 1989 but holding Russian citizenship, was killed fighting for Moscow’s army in May, APA informs. His family only received word of his death this week. His body is expected to be repatriated to Shamkir in the coming days.
Kyazimov’s story is not unique. Dozens of men of Azerbaijani origin — whether Russian citizens, labor migrants, or members of the Ukrainian diaspora — have been drawn into the trenches of this grinding war.
Some fight under the Russian flag, others under Ukraine’s. The result is a bitter irony: Azerbaijanis, who share the same language, roots, and families, are dying on opposite sides of the same battlefield, shooting at one another in a war that is not their own.
For Baku, it is a silent tragedy. The government does not take sides, but the diaspora pays the blood price. And for ordinary Azerbaijanis, the deaths serve as a painful reminder: in wars of empires, small nations are too often caught in the crossfire — sometimes literally brother against brother.
Ukraine’s trenches have become graves not only for Russians and Ukrainians, but for sons of Azerbaijan — dying for flags that are not theirs.
