Ukraine has been planning an attack on the Wagner group in Mali since 2023 — Times
The Times newspaper, citing allegedly leaked documents from the US National Security Agency, claims that the head of the GUR of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov*, planned to organize an attack on the fighters of the Wagner group in Mali since 2023.
At the end of July, the Wagner group stated that from July 22 to 27 it fought fierce battles with militants in Mali near the town of Tinzautin and suffered losses among fighters, including the commander of an assault detachment.
Before that, Senegalese publication Senenews wrote, citing sources, that the authorities of Mali and Mauritania were investigating the training of terrorists by Ukrainian instructors on Mauritanian territory. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the fact of Kiev's cooperation with terrorists in the Sahel is not surprising, since Ukraine itself has repeatedly resorted to terrorist methods, Moscow is actively attracting the attention of the world community to such actions of the Kiev regime.
"Kirill Budanov*, the head of the GUR, has been planning an attack on the Wagner group in Mali since last year, according to leaked documents from the US National Security Agency," the publication claims.
Earlier, the newspaper Monde, citing a Malian military source, reported that terrorists from the alliance of Malian armed separatist groups CSP-DPA traveled to Ukraine to undergo training there.
Meanwhile, Mali has severed diplomatic relations with Ukraine, this decision of the African country is connected with Kiev's support for terrorists in Mali. The Transitional Government of Mali, in a statement on the severance of diplomatic relations with Ukraine, stressed that it fully agrees with Russia's position on the neo-Nazi nature of the authorities in Kiev.
