Kyiv helped Mali rebels rout Kremlin-backed mercenaries

Ukraine says it provided intelligence and other help to rebels in Mali who routed fighters from the Kremlin-backed Wagner mercenary group.

A Tuareg nomad in Mali.

Ukraine says it provided intelligence and other unspecified help to rebels in Mali who routed fighters from the Kremlin-backed Wagner mercenary group.

At least 20 Wagner fighters, including a commander, were killed in an ambush in the north of the African country at the weekend, a pro-Kremlin media outlet said. Other sources said up to 80 Wagner mercenaries may have died when they were ­attacked by about 1000 Tuareg rebels during a sandstorm. Dozens of Mali government troops are said to have been killed.

“The rebels received intelligence – and not only intelligence – to allow them to carry out a successful military operation,” said Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence service GUR.

A photograph published by the Kyiv Post showed Tuareg rebels holding up a Ukrainian flag, purportedly in the aftermath of the battle. “Our forces obliterated these enemy columns,” rebels spokesman Mohamed ­Elmaouloud Ramadane said.

Videos on Telegram showed apparent Wagner mercenaries lying dead on a battlefield. At least 15 were taken prisoner.

The wreckage of an Mi-24 helicopter could be seen among the ruins of traditional mud homes, along with an upended military truck.

Wagner deployed to Africa in 2017 as part of the Kremlin’s ­attempt to extend its economic and political interests on the continent. Its losses in Mali are thought to be its heaviest outside Ukraine since 2018, when up to 200 fighters were killed during a clash with US forces in Syria.

Kyiv’s involvement in the ambush would mark a serious escalation in the GUR’s efforts to take the fight to Russia outside its borders.

GUR leader Kyrylo Budanov was planning an attack on Wagner in Mali as early as last year, according to leaked US National Security Agency documents. Ukrainian special forces are also reported to have taken part in Sudan over the past year.

In Moscow, a pro-war Telegram channel said instructors had been working with Tuareg rebels and some had been brought to Ukraine for training with first-person drones.

About 1000 Wagner fighters entered Mali in 2021 after the country’s pro-Western president was toppled by a military coup. The ruling junta has sought closer ties with Moscow and also ­received Russian weapon supplies.

Ethnic Tuareg fighters are seeking an independent state in the north. The conflict has been worsened by clashes between government forces and jihadist groups linked to al-Qa’ida and Islamic State.

Wagner has helped the Russian government extract gold from Africa worth at least £2bn since the start of the war in Ukraine, according to the Blood Gold Report research program.

The Times