(Reuters) – Ukraine denied late on Monday media reports that it has been involved in supplying drones to rebels fighting in the north of Mali.
The French Le Monde newspaper reported that the Tuareg fighters in the West African country use Ukrainian drones with “discreet but decisive” support from Kyiv against the Mali army and Russia’s Wagner mercenary group that said it fights alongside it.
“Ukraine strongly rejects the accusations that have recently been released by the international media outlets about the alleged involvement of our state in the supply of UAVs to the rebels in Mali,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.
Mali, where military authorities seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, is battling a years-long Islamist insurgency, with heavy fighting against Tuareg rebels ongoing near Mali’s border with Algeria.
In August, Mali cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine over Kyiv’s comments that the rebels got all “necessary” information to conduct attacks that reportedly killed scores of Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters in the north.
Russia, which in recent years has intensified efforts to gain influence in Africa, including Mali, has accused Ukraine of opening a “second front” against Russia by supporting fighters in Moscow-friendly African states.
Moscow has been waging a devastating war against Ukraine since February 2022, which has killed thousands of people, the vast majority of them Ukrainians.
(Reporting by Global News Monitoring; Writing by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Richard Chang)
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