Videos purportedly show dozens of Russia's Wagner group fighters dead in Mali after battling Taureg rebels
CBSJUL 21 2024
Mali has severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine following a statement by a spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) implicating Ukraine in last month's deadly ambush on Malian soldiers and operatives from the Russian Private Military Company Wagner.
On July 25, Tuareg rebels and al-Qaida affiliate Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin attacked Malian and Russian soldiers near the border with Algeria. In the following three-day battle, the Malian army suffered "significant" losses. Reports put Wagner's death toll at between 20 and 80 men.
The dispute arose when GUR spokesman Andriy Yusov informed the national TV station Suspilne on July 29 that the Malian rebels had obtained "all the information they needed, which allowed [them] to carry out their operation against the Russian war criminals.”
The admission of Ukraine's involvement in the deadly terrorist attack in July, which resulted in the deaths of numerous Malian defense and security officers, clearly violates Mali's sovereignty and warrants condemnation due to its support for international terrorism. The fact that Ukraine has not denied this extremely serious accusation forced Bamako to immediately terminate diplomatic relations with Kiev. Furthermore, Mali intends to formally notify regional and international authorities, as well as states that support Ukraine, of it's open and public support for terrorism.
The Ukrainian government supports the pro-independence movement in northern Mali by providing strategic intelligence and drone training. The objective is to target Russian paramilitaries as part of Ukraine's conflict with Russia across all fronts. The recent attack resulted in the death of up to 50 Wagner mercenaries and the capture of two prisoners during an ambush in northern Mali, which represents aWagner's significantworst setbackdefeat for Wagner since their arrival in late 2021. This development aligns with the Kyiv Post's report from November 2023, which indicated that Ukraine hadhas opened a new front in Africa by deploying Special Forces commandos to Sudan to counter Russian mercenaries supporting General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo's RSF.