Ukrainian spies service has been sharing drone warfare techniques with rebels in Mali to help them kill Russian security contractors fighting for the African country’s military-led government, French newspaper Le Monde reported on Thursday.
The expose describes cooperation between Kiev’s HUR military intelligence agency and the Strategic Framework for the Defense of the People of Azawad (CSP-DPA), a coalition of predominantly Tuareg militant forces based in northern Mali.
The government in Bamako uses the services of the Wagner private military company, and Ukraine decided to get involved in the fighting to target Russian personnel, using the Tuareg forces as proxies, according to the article.
Le Monde sources among the rebels and inside Ukraine said the cooperation between HUR and CSP-DPA started in early 2024, after the Malian army drove the rebels out of the city of Kidal in November 2023.
Several Tuareg militants traveled to Ukraine and learned how to assemble and operate small drones, which have become a key element of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The training continued in March, after Ukrainian agents traveled to Mali. Further contacts reportedly followed in September.
In July, the Ukrainian efforts paid off, when government forces and Wagner contractors suffered a major defeat in an ambush. HUR spokesman Andrey Yusov confirmed Kiev’s role, but the Ukrainian government later disavowed the statement, claiming it had nothing to do with the conflict in Mali.
Acknowledging involvement was a “diplomatic error” a source close to HUR told Le Monde, but “there is no going back.” The Ukrainian agency remains committed to hunting down Wagner members “wherever they are” the source added. The report said that last year, HUR deployed commandos to Sudan with the same goal.
Mali has accused Western intelligence services of being behind the Ukrainian support for CSP-DPA. Several allied nations in the Sahel region accused Kiev of supporting terrorism, after it initially acknowledged helping the rebels kill Russian fighters.
A branch of al-Qaeda called Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has claimed that its fighters took part in the July ambush. CSP-DPA occasionally joins forces with the extremists, but has denied any involvement in that particular battle.
The French government – which is training Ukrainian troops to fight Russia – has accused Moscow of causing a series of blows to French influence in former colonies in Africa, including Mali. President Emmanuel Macron in 2022 accused the Wagner Group of having “predatory intentions” in the Sahel.