Kiev has reportedly been training Tuareg insurgents in Mali
Evidence of Ukrainian involvement in Mali has been unearthed by the administrator of the Russian military Telegram channel GREY ZONE, believed to be connected to the Wagner private military company, RT has discovered.
Photos obtained by the blogger and shared with RT appear to depict Ukrainian instructors, allegedly linked to Kiev’s military intelligence agency, the GUR, operating in the African country.
These instructors have allegedly been training local Tuareg separatist militants, as well as secretly bringing at least two groups of them to Ukraine to teach them how to use FPV drones.
While the blogger, Nikita Fedyanin, best known by the alias ‘Beliy’ (‘The White’), had been preparing a report to shed more light on this matter, he ultimately met his demise in an ambush by the Tuaregs over the weekend.
Fedyanin had reportedly been traveling with a private military company and Malian army convoy in the vicinity of the village of Tinzawaten, close to the country’s border with Algeria. The area has recently experienced hostilities between Tuareg insurgents and the country’s military, the latter of which is reportedly supported by the Wagner Group.
Graphic footage circulating online shows a significant number of bodies and several burned-out vehicles in the aftermath of the ambush, while the militants are seen celebrating their victory. During the clash, a military helicopter that had been attempting to provide cover for the ambushed group was damaged and had to make an emergency landing, footage suggests. Several fighters, some of whom were presumably with the private military company, ended up captured by the Tuaregs.
The Wagner Group has been operating in several African countries for years. Moscow has previously asserted that the company’s actions on the continent were its “private business” and did not represent the Russian government.