The Ukrainian military intelligence service has been using drone warfare techniques with discreet but decisive support of Kyiv for Tuareg rebels to fight against the Malian Armed Forces and its Russian allies Wagener Group, says the French newspaper Le Monde.
Le Monde, in a report, disclosed this on Thursday, describing the cooperation between Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) 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.
Mali uses Russia’s military contractor, Wagner Group, for counterinsurgency in the region. However, Le Monde’s report indicated that the cooperation between HUR and CSP-DPA started in early 2024 after the Malian army drove the rebels out of Kidal in November 2023.
The report also noted that several Tuareg rebels travelled to Ukraine and learned how to assemble and operate small drones—a training which continued from March till September.
The training paid off in July when the Malian Armed Forces and Wagner contractors suffered a significant defeat in an ambush.
Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), a branch of al-Qaeda, claimed that its fighters took part in the July ambush. CSP-DPA occasionally joins forces with the Islamist extremists but has denied any involvement in that particular battle, causing destabilisation in the region.
Meanwhile, in a September 25 interview with the French state-owned France24 media, the vice secretary for external relations of the CSP-DPA, Attaye Ag Mohammed, who Malians dubbed a deserter and terrorist, confirmed that the CSP-DPA had long-standing ties with Ukraine.
Apollinaire Kyelem de Tambela, Mali’s Prime Minister, also, in an interview with RT, stated Ukraine’s motive for supporting terrorists in the Sahel region is to undermine Russia.
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