Azerbaijan always supports and will continue to support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said at the opening ceremony of the 4th Shusha Global Media Forum, entitled "The Mission of the Media in Promoting Peace: Restoring Truth and Rebuilding Trust".

Axar.az informs, citing Repоrt, the head of state recalled the recommendation he gave to Ukraine last year:

"I reaffirm today the recommendation I gave to Ukraine last year: do not accept the conflict. They are doing exactly that. Indeed, there have been difficult periods over the years, and we have witnessed this. We know that there has been pressure from certain circles to halt operations, proposals have been made to consolidate the occupation, and naturally, the Ukrainian people and government did not agree to this."

Ilham Aliyev stated, based on his assessments, that the immediate cessation of this war should have been realized long ago: "It should have been realized long ago that this war must be stopped immediately. Naturally, this is Azerbaijan's and my humanist position."

The president cited Azerbaijan as an example in this context. "I am the leader of a state that once suffered from occupation, and we have a rare experience in this regard. We were also pressured to give up Garabagh. No one in Azerbaijan, including myself, could agree to this, but this was the joint position of the world's three leading countries [the Minsk Group]. They were permanent members of the UN Security Council, and maintaining that position was an extremely difficult matter. When the Second Karabakh War broke out, all three of them immediately demanded the cessation of the war. They were calling us, intimidating us, threatening us. The demand was that nothing should change; some even suggested to us, for example, that you have liberated Fuzuli, now stop. We used various diplomatic methods; I was sending the Minister of Foreign Affairs to Moscow, Washington, and Europe for numerous meetings. Their goal was to prevent Azerbaijan from restoring its territorial integrity, but they failed, because the will of the people cannot be broken. The will of a people striving to protect their independence and identity cannot be broken."

The head of state emphasized that he is familiar with the position of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

"I am well acquainted with Zelensky's position; he has publicly declared it. We also had a conversation during his visit to Azerbaijan in April. In any case, Azerbaijan's position remains unchanged. We have always supported, support, and will continue to support the territorial integrity of Ukraine. We advocate for its sovereignty and the inviolability of its borders. No country's borders can be changed without the consent of the people; our position on this is consistent. We do everything we can to help Ukraine; we do this not for publicity, but sincerely. Both at the state level and among ordinary people, we have a unified position to do everything we can for a suffering people, for a country whose territorial integrity has been violated."