The embassy's chief of security was shot dead, and two other staff were wounded. The attack comes amid Azerbaijan's increasingly strained relations with Iran and blossoming friendship with Iran's archrival Israel.
Kyiv has long taken a pro-Azerbaijan position vis-a-vis the conflict with Armenia. Now officials say that Armenia and Russia are using the blockade to try to steal attention from Ukraine.
The drills included a crossing of the river that forms the Azerbaijan-Iran border, mirroring the threat that Iran’s armed forces had made weeks earlier.
Questioning the territorial integrity of the neighboring country, once a taboo topic, is increasingly entering official discourse both in Baku and Tehran.