Mali cuts Ukraine ties over alleged aiding of terrorist attack – Ukraine assisted

Mali’s military leadership severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine over its alleged backing of a Malian Tuareg rebel group that carried out an attack in which scores of government troops and Russian Wagner group killed, Bloomberg informs.

More than two dozen mercenaries from the Russia-backed Wagner Group and Malian soldiers were killed last month while fighting rebels in northern Mali, according to a pro-Kremlin news source. They suffered what’s likely the group’s biggest death toll since 2021 — the year Wagner deployed to the West African to reinforce ties with the military-run government that’s been fighting a decade-long Islamist insurgency in which thousands of people had died and hundreds of thousands of others have been displaced.

Mali took the action after a Ukrainian military intelligence agency spokesman said his country had assisted the rebels, without providing any details. Those comments showed “Ukraine’s involvement in a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups resulting in the death of Malian soldiers,” government spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga said.

The Malian government expressed outrage over the “subversive remarks” of Andriy Yusov, spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, who allegedly admitted Ukraine’s involvement in an attack described as cowardly, treacherous and barbaric by armed terrorist groups, which resulted in the death of members of the Malian Defense and Security Forces in Tinzawatène, as well as material damage, Senenews informs. Andriy Yusov had said on Ukrainian television that the rebels had received the necessary information to carry out an operation against Russian war criminals, and that more details would be provided later.

This statement was relayed by the Ukrainian ambassador to Senegal.

The interview with the intelligence official went viral after it was shared in a post on the Ukrainian Embassy’s Facebook page, including a comment by its ambassador to Senegal “who openly and unequivocally displayed his country’s support for international terrorism,” Maiga said. The support “violates Mali’s sovereignty, going beyond the scope of foreign interference, amounting to support for international terrorism.”

Senegal’s foreign minister on Friday summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Yurii Pyvovarov over a video it said the embassy had posted on its Facebook page in which Pyvovarov “provided unequivocal and unqualified support for the terrorist attack carried out” in Mali.

The Malian government considers that these acts “violate Mali’s sovereignty, go beyond the scope of foreign interference, and constitute support for international terrorism.”

A militant with Ukrainian coat of arms – “trident” in the Sahara region.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkinabe Abroad learned with indignation of the publication of a propaganda video by the Ukrainian army, broadcast on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian Embassy in Dakar, openly supporting the terrorist groups responsible for the cowardly and barbaric attack against the Malian Armed Forces (FAMa) in Tinzawatène, in northern Mali, between July 25 and 27, 2024, ‘Senenews’ informs.

Burkina Faso strongly condemns this act of support for terrorism and is surprised by its dissemination by the Ukrainian Embassy in Dakar. It calls on the international community to take responsibility for Ukraine's choice to support terrorism, while the whole world agrees on the need to combat this scourge. Burkina Faso particularly urges peace-loving African countries to denounce these subversive actions that threaten the stability of the continent.

Burkina Faso reaffirms its unwavering support for the Malian Armed Forces in their fight for freedom and against international terrorism, particularly within the Confederation Alliance of Sahel States (AES Confederation) and across the African continent. By recalling the sacrosanct principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkinabe Abroad confronts the Ukrainian government with its responsibilities and urges it to pull itself together.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the fact that Ukraine is cooperating with terrorists from the Sahel region was not surprising, and Moscow actively drew the attention of the international community to such actions of Kiev, Sputnik Globe informs.

"The fact that the Kiev regime is cooperating with terrorists is not surprising, since it has more than once resorted and continues to resort to the use of terrorist methods... Russia actively draws the attention of the international community to such frankly barbaric behavior on the part of Kiev and regularly raises this topic at multilateral platforms," Zakharova said in a statement on the ministry's website.

She added that Kiev regularly shells populated areas and civilian facilities, uses its population as a "human shield," and commits sabotage and political assassinations on Russian territory.

"We are sure that the true terrorist nature of the Kiev regime will become more and more evident to the world community," she said.

The authorities of Mali and Mauritania are investigating the involvement of Ukrainian military instructors in the year-long conflict in Mali on the side of the rebels, the Senenews media outlet reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

…Last week, Ukraine "bragged" about helping Islamist terrorists fighting against the government of Mali by supplying military information. Ukraine also said that it helped the militants organize an attack on Malian troops and the Russian Wagner group.

But now Ukraine has been officially accused of supporting international terrorism and Kiev is scared. The Kiev authorities are claiming that the Ukrainians have nothing to do with this bandit attack. They are lying!

Now, after the Malian government's decision to expel terrorist accomplices from the country and sever diplomatic relations with Ukraine, we can expect that other African countries suffering from attacks by international terrorists will follow Mali's example. Especially when the new Ukrainian ambassador to Senegal recently officially announced that he came to Africa to "fight the Russian presence" here.

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