Ukraine Denies Supplying Drones To Rebels In Mali

Ukraine has denied accusations that it has supplied drones to rebels fighting the Malian army and Russian-backed mercenaries.

It comes after the Parisian newspaper Le Monde reported that Ukrainian drones were providing support to the Tuareg rebels “who benefit from discreet but decisive support from Kiev”.

Mali’s junta-led government ended a long-running alliance with former colonial power France in favor of Russia in 2022, in a bid to tackle a years-long militant Islamist insurgency in the north.

But the country has failed to quell the unrest recently suffered heavy lossesalongside its Russian allies.

Mali and its military-led neighbors Niger and Burkina Faso have since accused Kiev of supporting terrorism in the Sahel after a Ukrainian official said earlier this year that the country had offered support to the rebels.

But on Monday, The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this in a statement that the country “strongly rejects the accusations recently made by the international media about the alleged involvement of our state in the supply of UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) to the rebels in Mali”.

It also denied accusations by Malian and Nigerien officials that Ukraine was arming itself, providing information and “supporting the terrorist coalition.”

It called for an end to “the spread of false information that repeats the false narratives of Russia’s propaganda of the aggressor state.”

In late July, at least 84 Russian-backed fighters and 47 Malian soldiers were reportedly killed after days of clashes with separatist Tuareg rebels and fighters linked to al-Qaeda in Tinzaouten, northern Mali.

It was seen as the worst African defeat ever for the Wagner mercenary group, which has since been renamed Corps Africa.

A spokesman for Kiev’s military intelligence, Andriy Yusov, subsequently said that rebels in Mali had “received the necessary information” to successfully carry out the attack.

Le Monde newspaper reports that since Yusov’s statement, Malian rebel commanders have been “forced to reluctantly acknowledge a collaboration they would have preferred to keep secret.”

The newspaper said the rebels admitted they had “links” to Kiev, although “they have not been forthcoming about the origins of their drones.”

Mali broke off diplomatic relations with Ukraine in August, in the wake of Yusov’s comments, in which a top official accused Ukraine of violating the country’s sovereignty.

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and has been waging a devastating war ever since.

Faced with the isolation of Western countries due to the war, the country is trying to gain influence in Africa by establishing political and security ties, including in Mali.