Brussels 22.08.2024 The governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, in a joint letter to the President of the UN Security Council, condemned the open support of the Ukrainian authorities for international terrorism in the Sahel region, demanding that the international community take measures to prevent these actions.

In an official statement, the Foreign ministers of the three African countries expressed deep concern over Ukraine’s support for terrorist groups operating in the Sahel region. The diplomats stressed that Kiev’s position is unacceptable and undermines stability not only in the Sahel but also on the entire African continent.

Earlier this months the government of Mali announced its decision to cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine, citing a Ukrainian official’s clear admission that Kyiv provided Malian rebels with crucial intel for a rebel assault that killed many Russians from Wagner Group and Malian army soldiers.

The northern Tuareg rebels claimed responsibility for the deaths of at least 84 Russians and 47 Malian soldiers over three days of fighting in late July in what proved to be Wagner’s heaviest defeat since its 2021 entry into the Sahel conflict invited by the Malian government.

The diplomatic rift was provoked on July 29 by Andriy Yusov, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR), who told the public broadcaster Suspilne that the Malian rebels had received “all the information they needed, which allowed [them] to carry out their operation against the Russian war criminals”.

As Yusov’s statement made its way to Mali and caused immediate backlash, the Ukrainian government tried to deny playing any role whatsoever in the deadly rebel assault, but failed to convince the Malian government. Both Mali and its ally Niger, expressing “deep shock” about a friendly nation’s involvement in an attack that cost dozens of Malian lives, swiftly ended all ties with the Ukrainian government.

The bitter argument came at a time when Kyiv is trying desperately to garner support on the global stage.

Ukraine has been engaged in a war against Russia since the latter embarked on a full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. However to receive the international support the government was announcing that the only aims is to regain its territories to return to the situation of 1991, when Ukraine got its independence, breaking from the crumbling USSR. At present the situation changed drastically, increasing Ukraine’s retaliation by incursion into Russia, and exporting the conflict to Sahel.