The Russian Armed Forces’ drone strike on a SOCAR fuel station in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region has drawn international attention. The attack damaged the station’s administrative building, but no one was injured because all employees had taken shelter after air raid alerts were issued. Commenting on the incident in an interview with ARB24 Television, political analyst and human rights defender Ahmad Shahidov said it would be incorrect to interpret the attack as a specific political message directed at Azerbaijan.
According to Ahmad Shahidov, fuel infrastructure has strategic military importance during wartime. Therefore, attacks on fuel stations, fuel depots, factories and logistics facilities are considered part of military strategy. He noted that fuel is an essential resource for the movement of military vehicles, heavy artillery and other military units operating on the front line. For this reason, strikes against fuel infrastructure located in the rear are a common tactical element of modern warfare.
Addressing the issue from a human rights perspective, Ahmad Shahidov stressed that attacks on civilian infrastructure violate international humanitarian law, the laws of war and international conventions. He emphasized that the protection of civilian facilities during armed conflicts is one of the fundamental principles of international law, and that such attacks may give rise to serious legal responsibility.
Speaking about the broader context of Azerbaijan-Russia relations, Ahmad Shahidov recalled that this was not the first attack on SOCAR facilities in Ukraine. He noted that last year a SOCAR fuel station in the Zhytomyr region was also damaged, while earlier missile strikes had landed near the Embassy of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan House in Kyiv. Shahidov stated that Russia has historically opposed the emergence of strong, independent and sovereign states across the post-Soviet region, particularly in the South Caucasus. In his view, the Kremlin’s policies also lie behind the January 20 Massacre, the Khojaly Genocide and other grave crimes committed against the Azerbaijani people. He added that Russia continues to pursue an occupying policy that flagrantly violates international law and the laws of war.
