August 11, 2025 – Baku
Azerbaijan will allocate $2 million in humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, according to a presidential decree signed by President Ilham Aliyev, AzerTac reported.
The funds, drawn from the 2025 state budget’s presidential reserve, will be transferred to the Ministry of Energy for the purchase and delivery of Azerbaijani-made electrical equipment to Ukraine.
The decree underscores Baku’s commitment to humanitarian principles, noting Azerbaijan’s track record of providing bilateral and multilateral aid to countries in crisis. Azerbaijan has repeatedly sent humanitarian shipments to Ukraine since the start of the war, grounding its cooperation in long-standing bilateral agreements, including:
Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership (March 16, 2000)
Declaration on Friendship and Strategic Partnership (May 22, 2008)
Joint Declaration of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Ukraine (January 14, 2022)
Coming Days After Russian Attacks on SOCAR
The announcement comes just days after Russian drone strikes on Azerbaijani-linked energy infrastructure in Ukraine — a SOCAR oil depot in Odesa region and the Orlivka gas distribution station on the Trans-Balkan pipeline, which recently began delivering Azerbaijani gas to Ukraine. Four SOCAR employees were injured in the Odesa attack.
As covered earlier by Azerbaijan.US, these strikes were interpreted in Baku as a deliberate signal from Moscow aimed at punishing Azerbaijan for charting an independent policy — most notably for signing the August 8 Washington peace declaration with Armenia under U.S. mediation, which excluded Russia entirely from the process.
President Aliyev has vowed that cooperation with Ukraine will continue despite the attacks. Diplomatic sources have told Vesti.az that Azerbaijan is even considering lifting its ban on arms exports to Ukraine if Russian strikes on Azerbaijani energy assets persist.
Political as Well as Humanitarian
While the official order frames the $2 million package as humanitarian aid, the timing leaves little doubt that it also carries a political message: Azerbaijan will not bow to Russian pressure, and it is prepared to deepen its partnership with Ukraine in defiance of Kremlin objections.
President Aliyev’s decree states:
“For the procurement and shipment of electrical equipment manufactured in the Republic of Azerbaijan, aimed at providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine, allocate to the Ministry of Energy funds equivalent to $2 million from the reserve fund of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan provided in the state budget for 2025.”
This move positions Baku not only as a humanitarian partner to Kyiv, but as a South Caucasus actor willing to confront Moscow’s coercive tactics head-on.
