Tuareg rebels and the al-Qaeda-linked Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) last week attacked government forces and Russian mercenaries in the area around the village of Tinzaouatene, which is located on the border with Algeria.
The rebels claim that at least 47 government soldiers and 84 soldiers from the Russian Wagner group were killed in the fighting.
According to a spokesman for Ukraine’s military intelligence service (HUR), the Tuareg rebels received Ukrainian assistance. An unconfirmed photo of rioters holding a Ukrainian flag has also circulated on the internet.
– They have received the necessary information that enabled them to carry out a successful military operation against the Russian war criminals, the intelligence officer Andriy Yusov told Ukrainian television last week.
Military coup
The military in Mali seized power in a coup in 2020, but after strong international pressure agreed to hand over power to a civilian transitional government.
A few months later, however, Colonel Assimi Goïta led another coup and then proclaimed himself president.
The military junta in the country has since thrown out the UN peacekeeping force as well as a French force that has been fighting Islamist rebels in the region.
Wagner groups
The coup plotters have instead brought an unknown number of mercenaries from the Russian Wagner group to the country and established stronger ties with the Russian authorities.
The military junta in Mali justifies the decision to break diplomatic relations with Ukraine with the country having acknowledged support for a “cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups”.
Ukraine calls the decision “short-term and hasty”, but at the same time criticizes Russia’s military presence in Africa.
More countries
The Wagner group, which has soldiers in several countries in Africa, can expect more Ukrainian-backed attacks, Yusov warned on Ukrainian TV last week.
– The monopoly the private Russian armies have had in Africa is now over. Forces are now able to put these criminals in their place, the Ukrainian intelligence officer said, according to the DPA news agency.
Newspaper Kyiv Post published in early February a video allegedly showing Ukrainian special forces interrogating prisoners of war from the Russian Wagner group in Sudan.
The newspaper’s sources confirmed that the soldiers belonged to the Timur unit, which is subordinate to the HUR.
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2024-08-07 06:17:06
