Ahmad 
Hundreds of demonstrators in the southern Mali city of Koutiala staged a protest against Ukraine’s support for armed groups in the north of the country, the Info Matin news site reported.
Participants expressed their support for local authorities, carried flags of Russia and the Sahel countries, such as Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, and donated blood to the country’s army and security services.
The demonstration came after Mali severed diplomatic relations with Ukraine on August 5, over what it considered Kiev’s support for local terrorist groups.
French media reported that some terrorists from the CSP-DPA alliance in Mali had traveled to Ukraine for training.
For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Ukraine, given the difficulty of achieving victory on the battlefield against Russia, tried to open a “second front” in Africa by supporting terrorist groups in African countries friendly to Russia.
Niger also severed ties with Ukraine on August 8, in a move aligned with Mali, and Mali and Niger have submitted a request to the UN Security Council to investigate Kiev’s support for armed groups in northern Mali, said Foussinou Ouattara, deputy chairman of the Security and Defense Committee in Mali’s transitional parliament.
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