On 20 January, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Olexandr Mischenko held a working meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions of friendly countries accredited in Ukraine: Seymour Mardaliev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan; Tolezhan Barlibayev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Kazakhstan; and Serdar Kakadjanov, acting head of the Embassy of Turkmenistan.

Olexandr Mischenko expressed gratitude to the representatives of these countries for their unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He briefed his colleagues on the current situation at the front, as well as the consequences of today’s Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and other cities across Ukraine.

The Deputy Minister appealed to the foreign diplomats to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, particularly in the energy sector.

He extended special thanks to the Azerbaijani side for substantial support, including 11 high-capacity generators, 5 transformers, over 27,000 meters of cables and wiring, and 12 low-voltage panels. This aid, valued at USD 1 million, was allocated by order of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and has already been dispatched to Ukraine.

Olexandr Mischenko also thanked the Kazakh side for humanitarian assistance, in particular for enabling another group of Ukrainian children to undergo rehabilitation at one of the sanatoriums on the Caspian coast of Kazakhstan.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the current status and plans to further enhance Ukraine’s cooperation with Central Asian countries and Azerbaijan, both in the multilateral “CA+” format and in bilateral frameworks.

The Deputy Minister noted that Ukraine intends to participate in business forums taking place in Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan in February–March, and also hopes to join the multilateral “CA+EU” forum scheduled in Brussels.

Additionally, the parties reviewed priority areas of cooperation in the energy, transport-logistics, and communications sectors.