Mali Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Ukraine

Mali has announced that it is cutting diplomatic ties with Ukraine following a recent discovery of Ukraine’s provision of support for a rebel group in the Sahelian state.

A senior Ukrainian official reportedly admitted Kyiv’s role in an attack on Malian soldiers and Russia’s Wagner group by the northern Tuareg rebels in July.

According to Aljazeera, the Malian army, fighting together with the Wagner group, suffered a heavy defeat against the Tuareg rebels in an intense fighting that lasted three days at a military camp at Tinzaouatene. The fight happened near the Algerian border on July 25.

Mali’s army has admitted it suffered a “large number” of deaths during the clashes but has not released figures. However, the northern Tuareg rebels say they killed at least 84 (Russian) mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers.

Andriy Yusov, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR), disclosed on July 29 that Ukraine provided the Malian rebels with “all the information they needed, which allowed [them] to carry out their operation against the Russian war criminals”.

Mali expressed shock at the discovery of Ukraine’s involvement in what it described as “a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups that resulted in the death of members of the Malian Defence and Security Forces”.

According to a statement by the spokesperson for Mali Junta, Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga, Mali would break off relations “with immediate effect.”

The statement also cited comments by Ukraine’s Ambassador to Senegal, Yurii Pyvovarov, who Senegal summoned on Saturday over a video published on Facebook in which Pyvovarov provided “unequivocal and unqualified support for the terrorist attack” in Mali.

Russia, through the Wagner group, has been providing support for Mali in the latter’s fight against terrorists and rebels. Last week, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov reaffirmed his support for the West African country in a telephone call with his Malian counterpart Abdoulaye Diop.

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Oluwatobi Odeyinka

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