Azerbaijan's President Says France to Blame if New Conflict Starts with Armenia

A handout photo made available by Azerbaijan President Press Service shows Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (L) and First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva attending a flower-laying ceremony at the memorial stone in Victory Park, which is under construction, during Remembrance Day celebrations, in Baku, Azerbaijan, 27 September 2023.   EPA/AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT PRESS SERVICE
A handout photo made available by Azerbaijan President Press Service shows Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (L) and First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva attending a flower-laying ceremony at the memorial stone in Victory Park, which is under construction, during Remembrance Day celebrations, in Baku, Azerbaijan, 27 September 2023. EPA/AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT PRESS SERVICE
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Azerbaijan's President Says France to Blame if New Conflict Starts with Armenia

A handout photo made available by Azerbaijan President Press Service shows Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (L) and First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva attending a flower-laying ceremony at the memorial stone in Victory Park, which is under construction, during Remembrance Day celebrations, in Baku, Azerbaijan, 27 September 2023.   EPA/AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT PRESS SERVICE
A handout photo made available by Azerbaijan President Press Service shows Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev (L) and First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva attending a flower-laying ceremony at the memorial stone in Victory Park, which is under construction, during Remembrance Day celebrations, in Baku, Azerbaijan, 27 September 2023. EPA/AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENT PRESS SERVICE

Azerbaijan's president scolded the European Union and warned that France's decision to send military aid to Armenia could trigger a new conflict in the South Caucasus after a lightening Azerbaijani military operation last month.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev last week pulled out of an EU-brokered meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at which Brussels said it was standing by Armenia.
But Aliyev criticized the EU's approach - and particularly France's position - when European Council President Charles Michel telephoned him, according to an Azerbaijani statement issued late on Saturday.
President Ilham Aliyev said "that due to the well-known position of France, Azerbaijan did not participate in the meeting in Granada," the Azerbaijani presidential office said, according to Reuters.
"The head of state emphasized that the provision of weapons by France to Armenia was an approach that was not serving peace, but one intended to inflate a new conflict, and if any new conflict occurs in the region, France would be responsible for causing it."
France has agreed on future contracts with Armenia to supply it with military equipment to help ensure its defenses, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Oct. 3 during a visit to Yerevan.
She declined to elaborate on what sort of military aid was envisaged for Armenia under future supply contracts. French President Emmanuel Macron scolded Azerbaijan, saying that Baku appeared to have a problem with international law.
Aliyev restored control over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh last month with a 24-hour military operation which triggered the exodus of most of the territory's 120,000 ethnic Armenians to Armenia.



Russia Mounts 'Massive' Attack on Ukraine's Energy Infrastructure

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 19, 2024, Ukrainian rescuers clean rubble of a destroyed dormitory building following a  missile attack in Glukhiv, Sumy region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 19, 2024, Ukrainian rescuers clean rubble of a destroyed dormitory building following a missile attack in Glukhiv, Sumy region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE / AFP)
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Russia Mounts 'Massive' Attack on Ukraine's Energy Infrastructure

In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 19, 2024, Ukrainian rescuers clean rubble of a destroyed dormitory building following a  missile attack in Glukhiv, Sumy region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE / AFP)
In this handout photograph taken and released by the Ukrainian Emergency Service on November 19, 2024, Ukrainian rescuers clean rubble of a destroyed dormitory building following a missile attack in Glukhiv, Sumy region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / UKRAINIAN EMERGENCY SERVICE / AFP)

Russia carried out its second big attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure this month on Thursday, with national and local officials reporting blasts and emergency power cuts across the country affecting hundreds of thousands of people.
"Energy infrastructure is once again targeted by the enemy's massive strike," Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko wrote on Facebook.
Ukraine's national grid operator Ukrenergo introduced emergency power cuts amid the attack, Galushchenko said.
Ukraine's top private power company DTEK said the power cuts impacted the capital as well as Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Donetsk regions.
Russia previously staged 10 massive attacks on the country's energy infrastructure, which hobbled the system and spurred fears of long power cuts ahead of the winter months, Reuters said.
During the Thursday missile attack on the western Rivne region, governor Oleksandr Koval said 280,000 consumers experienced power cuts. He also reported interruptions in water supply without elaborating on damage.
The mayor of the western town of Lutsk reported power cuts after several strikes, adding that the services were working to connect water and heating infrastructure to alternative power sources.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said a missile strike on the city damaged a business facility and windows in an apartment building.
The missile attack on the northeastern Sumy region targeted infrastructure, regional authorities said.
Debris in Kyiv fell on the territory of a business and dealt minor damage to several buildings and a truck, the Kyiv city military administration said.