Zelensky ready for talks in Azerbaijan

Volodymyr Zelensky said on April 25 that Ukraine is ready for trilateral talks with Russia in Azerbaijan if Moscow is prepared for diplomacy. (ukrinform.net) (euronews.com) Zelensky made the offer during his first wartime visit to Azerbaijan, standing beside President Ilham Aliyev after talks that also covered energy, trade and security cooperation. (euronews.com) (kyivindependent.com) Ukrinform reported that Zelensky described the proposed format as trilateral talks and said Ukraine had already used similar channels in Turkey and with U.S. partners in Switzerland. (ukrinform.net) The diplomatic signal came the same day Russia launched one of its biggest combined air attacks of the year. Ukraine’s Air Force said Moscow fired 47 missiles and 619 drones overnight. (kyivindependent.com) (aljazeera.com) Ukrainian officials said air defenses intercepted 580 drones and 30 missiles, but Dnipro still suffered repeated strikes that killed at least eight people there and helped push the nationwide toll to 10 dead and 67 injured. (kyivindependent.com) Aliyev said Azerbaijan and Ukraine would continue to back each other’s territorial integrity, and the two governments signed six agreements during Zelensky’s visit. (euronews.com) (kyivindependent.com) The backdrop is a war that is widening in reach even as both sides keep talking about negotiations. Reuters reported that a Ukrainian drone hit an apartment building in Yekaterinburg, the first attack on Russia’s fourth-largest city since the full-scale war began. (reuters.com) Yekaterinburg sits in the Urals, roughly 1,800 kilometers from Ukraine, and Russian regional officials also reported drone activity in nearby Chelyabinsk. (reuters.com) (militarnyi.com) Zelensky’s message in Gabala was that Ukraine will keep fighting while leaving a channel open for talks, but only outside Russia and only if the Kremlin shows it is ready to negotiate. (euronews.com) (ukrinform.net)