Mali: Ukrainian intel claims role in deadly ambush of Malian forces, Wagner mercenaries

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR) has claimed it had provided the Tuareg separatist rebels with information that facilitated the devastating attack on Malian government troops and their allied mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, now called Africa Corps.

Mali’s military has acknowledged, in a rare admission of a defeat, that it had suffered a “large number” of deaths in a two-day clash with Tuareg rebels and al-Qaeda-linked militants in a town bordering Algeria last week. Also, dozen of Russian fighters, who were accompanying Malian government troops on patrol, were reportedly killed or captured by Tuareg separatist militants.

In a surprise turn of events, Andrii Yusov, GUR’s spokesman, made a startling revelation this week that the agency was involved in the deadly ambush in the West African nation of Mali, thousands of miles away from the frontline in Ukraine. “The rebels received necessary information, and not just information, which enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals,” Yusov stated.

According to observers, Ukraine seems to have been able to flip Russia’s playbook, possibly disrupting Wagner’s African gold operations and emerging as a surprise regional power broker. “The fight is global now. You cannot limit it to one theater,” said security analyst, Omar Ashour, highlighting the strategic shift. “Even if it’s less than 80, it is a highly significant loss for Wagner,” Ashour told Euromaidan Press. “We’re talking about a small company size – if you lose one in one operation, that’s a big loss.” The scale of this loss is seen as rather unprecedented for Russian forces in Africa, who have been active in Mali and other countries to support local regimes and counter Western influence. The attack has sent shockwaves through the region and posed significant questions about Russia’s proxy strategy in the Sahel.