Elimination of Wagnerites in Mali: Ukraine’s special services teach Tuareg to fly drones - Le Monde
Tuareg rebels in Mali said they had killed 84 Russian mercenaries from the Wagner terrorist group and 47 Malian soldiers in three days.
According to the French newspaper Le Monde, Ukrainian special services are training Tuareg to fly drones, Censor.NET reports with reference to LigaBusinessInform.
According to the rebels, more than 30 fighters of the "enemy forces" were wounded, and their military equipment, including tanks, weapons and vehicles, was captured or destroyed. Seven Wagnerians and Malian soldiers were taken prisoner.
According to a French journalist familiar with the matter, Ukrainian intelligence services are cooperating with the rebels in Mali, providing them with strategic information and training in the use of drones.
Mohamed Elmauloud Ramadan, a representative of the CSP-DPA alliance of armed rebels, confirmed in a comment to Le Monde that they do have contacts with Ukrainian special services.
"We have ties with the Ukrainians, like everyone else: the French, the Americans and others," he said.
It should be noted that the Tuareg are an ethnic group that inhabits the Sahara region, in particular part of northern Mali. The group launched an uprising against the Malian junta government in 2012, but the uprising was later intercepted by Islamist groups. In 2015, the rebels signed a peace agreement with Bamako, but at the end of 2022, they withdrew from the negotiations. The Tuareg, in particular, are fighting against the Wagnerians.
As a reminder, on July 28, 2024, Tuareg rebels claimed to have killed dozens of government soldiers and Russian mercenaries from Wagner in a battle near the border with Algeria. On August 1, DIU spokesman Andrii Yusov said that, in addition to operations to destroy Russian mercenaries in Sudan, Syria, and Mali, there were several more that had not yet been disclosed in the media, and that further such events were being prepared.
