Azerbaijan to have its share in recovery of war-torn Ukraine Baku pledges multi-million dollar assistance to Kyiv

Ukraine will soon receive at least $10 million from Azerbaijan to mitigate the impact of the ongoing war with Russia on its people and expedite the reconstruction of the country’s war-torn territories.

The announcement came from Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov at the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023 in the British capital of London on June 21.

“Azerbaijan’s post-conflict reconstruction experience is a best practice worth to be shared with other countries, including Ukraine,” Bayramov said, referring to the ongoing state-run revival campaign in the liberated lands of Azerbaijan.

Bayramov said the assistance will not be limited to only financial aid, while Baku is ready also for supplying mine clearance equipment and receive the war-affected Ukrainian children for their rehabilitation.

The Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC) 2023, the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023, is being held jointly by the UK and Ukraine in London on June 21-22, in a bid to continue the cycle of annual events with the last one conducted jointly with Switzerland in Lugano.

The previous edition of the conference, held for the first time during the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine, launched the Lugano Principles, which laid the foundation for the reconstruction process of Ukraine and united the world in its efforts.

Since Lugano, the international community has pledged significant emergency assistance, but a broader mobilisation of public and private sectors is needed to meet the scale of stabilisation and recovery needs Ukraine requires following the Russian attacks. Ukraine has already undertaken initiatives to move forward with reconstruction in line with these principles and commitments, despite the circumstances of war.

The Ukraine Recovery Conference is dedicated to Ukraine's transformation and was symbolically launched in London in 2017 as the Ukraine Reform Conference.

Meanwhile, on June 22, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy revealed that Kyiv and Baku agreed on the involvement of the latter in the reconstruction of the war-ravaged Ukrainian city of Irpen.

Zelenskyy said teams from the two countries are already working on the implementation of this agreement while hailing it as “a concrete contribution to Ukraine's post-war reconstruction”.

Irpen is not an unfamiliar location for Azerbaijan. SOCAR Energy Ukraine, through which Azerbaijan’s energy conglomerate SOCAR operates in Kyiv, has already restored a secondary school in the city in 2022. A major overhaul at the school included the renovation of the building’s roof, windows and stained-glass windows, and facade.

Moreover, classrooms, and gym, which were seriously damaged in a missile assault, have been repaired, and bathrooms have been installed in the school’s bomb shelter.

Irpen, located 21 kilometres (13 miles) from Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and considered a “gateway” to the capital Kyiv, witnessed a fierce Russian assault in March 2022, shortly after the start of the invasion on February 24. Around 70,000 population in the city suffered heavily from massive shelling as the Russian troops were pushing to occupy it and later facilitate the advancement toward Kyiv.

Since the start of Russia’s “special operation” in February 2022, Kyiv received humanitarian aid worth more than $20 million from Azerbaijan.

The first humanitarian cargo of medicines and other medical items reached Ukraine on February 27 2022. The next tranches of humanitarian assistance brought mostly medicaments and food to the war-torn country.

The most recent aid batch, including water pipes, water pumps, life jackets, inflatable boats, wading overalls, and relevant items was delivered to Ukraine on 10 June 2023. They were destined for the people suffering from the consequences of the water dam disaster in the Kherson region’s Kakhovka city.