Ahmad 
Ukrainian intelligence has boasted of a role it claims is prominent in supporting extremist groups that targeted the Malian army and the Wagner forces that support it in the country that is seeking to rise.
Andriy Yusov, spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, said that “the rebels received the necessary information, and not just information, which enabled them to carry out a successful military operation,” according to his expression.
The Kyiv Post newspaper published a photo that it said showed Malian rebels carrying the Ukrainian flag.
The Malian army fought fierce battles with separatist Tuareg groups, interspersed with suicide attacks in addition to drone and car bomb attacks, which resulted in a number of deaths and injuries among the Malian army and Wagner forces, according to the latter’s statement published on its “Telegram” channel.
“From July 22 to 27, 2024, Malian Armed Forces soldiers and elements of the 13th Assault Platoon of the Wagner Group, under the command of Commander Sergei Shevchenko, fought fierce battles against militants from the Azawad Coordination Movement and Al-Qaeda in the Sahel,” the statement said.
The statement stressed that the assault platoon, under the command of Shevchenko, managed to eliminate most of the Islamists on the first day and forced the rest to flee. However, the sandstorm that followed allowed the extremists to regroup and increase their numbers to 1,000 people, which is why the Wagner command decided to transfer additional forces to the combat zone to assist the 13th Assault Platoon.
On July 25, the militants attacked again, but thanks to the coordinated actions of the Wagner Group fighters and the Malian military, the attempted attack was repelled, the statement said.
The statement added: “Over the next two days, the extremists increased the number of large-scale attacks, using heavy weapons, drones and suicide vehicles, which led to losses among the Wagner Group private military forces and the Malian Armed Forces. The last radio message from the “Shevchenko Group” arrived on July 27 at 17:10, which read: “Only the three of us remained, continuing to fight.” It was noted that the commander, Sergei Shevchenko, was killed during the fierce fighting.
The Malian government, which has been fighting various groups in the north of the country for more than a decade, requested assistance from Wagner after the military council took power in 2020.
Mali seeks to get rid of the effects of French colonialism that left the country torn apart and its people living in poverty, after national liberation movements succeeded in rising up, expelling French forces, and returning to adopting Arabic instead of French in the country.
After France fell in Bamako overnight, Mali became seen as the country capable of leading an anti-French African spring that gradually spread to other countries in the Sahel and Sahara.
French colonialism left behind a torn country, which justifies the Malian authorities’ use of forces to help them re-establish influence and build state institutions, so the recent Ukrainian announcement of support for extremists reveals another face for Kiev, which boasts of its relations with extremist groups trying to abort the country’s liberation under the pretext of fighting Wagner forces.
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