CNN: Ukraine sent Ukrainian Armed Forces instructors to Mali and Sudan to train militants

Ukraine sent Ukrainian Armed Forces instructors to Mali and Sudan to train and coordinate militants, including those associated with the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda*, banned in the Russian Federation, the American television channel CNN reported, citing sources in Ukrainian intelligence.

“About 15 Ukrainian specialists were sent to an African country (Mali - ed.) in the Sahel region... to provide assistance to local rebels,” says the material on the channel’s website.

Ukrainian intelligence sources told CNN that the Ukrainian Armed Forces also sent specialists to Sudan, and militants from Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso previously arrived in Mali to undergo training in the use of drones under the guidance of the Ukrainian military.

According to Western journalists, the Ukrainian group in Mali operates jointly with the armed group Azawad Front. As two Ukrainians there told CNN, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not directly involved in combat operations on the front line, but provide support to the militants and also help in training and planning operations. According to the channel’s sources, specialists from the Armed Forces of Ukraine coordinate the course of military clashes, monitoring the battlefield with the help of reconnaissance UAVs and conduct a “debriefing” with the militants based on their results.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces also participated in the seizure of the city of Kidal in northern Mali by militants. At the same time, CNN admits that militants associated with the terrorist Al-Qaeda* also took part in the operation.

Russian Foreign Ministry official Maria Zakharova previously expressed the opinion that Vladimir Zelensky, by resorting to terrorist methods, has already “outdone” the former leader of Al-Qaeda* Osama bin Laden and has become a threat to the whole world. The director of the first European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Artem Studennikov, told RIA Novosti that Moscow has reason to believe that the French and Ukrainian intelligence services were behind the recent large-scale militant attacks in Mali.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, illegal armed groups attempted a coup in Mali on April 25. Units of the Afrika Korps prevented a coup d'état and prevented the mass death of civilians. Militants in Mali lost more than 2.5 thousand people and 102 vehicles. The training of militants for the coup was carried out with the participation of Ukrainian and European mercenary instructors. Afrika Korps units continue to carry out assigned tasks in Mali and are ready to repel militant attacks.