Zelenskyy Visits Azerbaijan Amid Russia-Ukraine Ceasefire Talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Azerbaijan on Friday for high-level talks with President Ilham Aliyev, focusing on security and energy cooperation. The two leaders signed a significant agreement relating to military-industrial partnerships, according to multiple sources.

The visit came shortly after Zelenskyy's trip to Saudi Arabia where he met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. During his time in Azerbaijan, Zelenskyy discussed the possibility of hosting future Ukraine-Russia talks. 'We are ready for the next talks [to be] in Azerbaijan if Russia will be ready for diplomacy,' Zelenskyy said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine has formally requested that Turkey host a meeting between Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. 'We addressed the Turks specifically. But if another capital, besides Moscow and Belarus, organises such a meeting, we will go,' Sybiha stated.

Overnight Russian strikes across Ukraine resulted in at least ten fatalities, including five people killed when an apartment building was hit in Dnipro. Zelenskyy described the attack as lasting 'practically all night' while rescue operations continued into Saturday morning. According to Ukrainian air force reports, Russia launched 619 drones and 47 missiles, with Ukrainian forces successfully repelling most of them.

In retaliation, Ukraine carried out some of its longest-distance drone strikes deep inside Russian territory. In Yekaterinburg, nearly 1,000 miles from Ukraine's border, the governor reported that six people were injured when a building was struck. Local authorities in nearby Chelyabinsk stated that drones targeting an industrial facility had been intercepted.

Zelenskyy emphasized that US weapons deliveries to Ukraine have not ceased despite ongoing conflicts. He noted that Ukrainian long-range strikes continue to target Russian oil production and manufacturing plants, with losses reaching tens of billions of dollars. Russia's Ministry of Defence claimed it had shot down 127 drones over more than a dozen regions.

Additionally, Ukraine and Russia conducted a prisoner exchange on Friday, swapping 193 captured soldiers each. A worker at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack according to Russian forces which control the site. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced it would investigate the incident as such strikes could endanger nuclear safety.

Ukraine has accused Russia of using the plant as a military base and launching attacks from there against Ukrainian cities. Meanwhile, Russian drones attacked Odesa, injuring at least 14 people including two children and damaging infrastructure according to multiple sources. In the Russia-occupied part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, a Ukrainian drone strike resulted in the deaths of two people in the village of Dnipriany.

Zelenskyy reported that Russia has fired approximately 1,900 attack drones, nearly 1,400 powerful guided aerial bombs and around 60 missiles of various types at Ukraine over the past week. He stated that Ukraine's wartime development of cutting-edge military technology means it’s intercepting more than 90% of the drones launched by Russia.

The Ukrainian leader also warned about unusual activity near the shared border with Belarus. In a video address on Saturday, Zelenskyy stated without offering details that Ukraine is ready to respond to any aggressive actions. 'We are closely documenting everything and keeping the situation under control,' he said.