Ukraine has been accused of providing weapons, training and support to Tuareg separatists fighting Mali’s military and its Russian allies, deepening tensions between Kyiv and military-led governments in Africa’s Sahel region.
Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, which are ruled by military juntas that have distanced themselves from France and strengthened ties with Russia, have severed diplomatic relations with Ukraine over the allegations.
The three countries accuse Kyiv of supporting the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a predominantly Tuareg separatist group involved in fighting against Mali’s military. The group has also been reported to have links with Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an Al-Qaeda-linked armed group operating in the Sahel.
Mali’s Foreign Minister, Abdoulaye Diop, accused Ukraine of supporting armed groups seeking to undermine the country’s territorial integrity during an address to the United Nations in September.
“In Africa and the Sahel, (Ukraine) is providing clear and open support to terrorist groups and other mafia-like groups to undermine our country’s territorial integrity,” Diop alleged.
Niger’s Prime Minister, Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, also accused France and Ukraine of directing armed proxies near the country’s northeastern borders to attack military positions and oil facilities.
The allegations followed a September 7 post on X by Kyrylo Budanov, a former Ukrainian intelligence chief who became Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff in January. In the post, Budanov suggested that Ukrainian intelligence operations extended to Africa’s Sahel region.
“From Russia to Africa… the Main Intelligence Directorate protects Ukrainian interests across the globe by all means… in the scorching sands of deserts and the freezing snows of Antarctica,” Budanov wrote.
The post included a photograph of four white men whose faces were blurred, standing alongside armed men wearing turbans beside pickup trucks in a desert.
Five days later, CNN reported that Ukrainian military intelligence officers had confirmed that Ukrainian drone operators in the Sahel had provided training and support to the FLA.
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Ukraine’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Agence France-Presse’s request for comment on the allegations.
The reported involvement of Ukrainian personnel in the Sahel points to a widening dimension of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as Kyiv and Moscow pursue competing interests beyond the battlefield in Europe. However, the allegations of Ukrainian support for armed groups remain contested and should be distinguished from independently verified details of the reported cooperation.
