Mali announced on Sunday that it is immediately severing diplomatic ties with Ukraine due to comments made by a spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR) regarding recent fighting in northern Mali. This conflict resulted in the deaths of Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters in late July.
The northern Tuareg rebels of Mali claim to have killed at least 84 Russian Wagner mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers during intense battles, marking Wagner’s most significant defeat since they began supporting Mali’s military authorities against insurgent groups two years ago.
While GUR spokesperson Andriy Yusov did not confirm Ukraine’s involvement in the conflict, he mentioned in comments published on the public broadcaster Suspilne’s website on Monday, July 29, that the Malian rebels had received the “necessary” information to carry out the attack.
“The rebels received all the necessary information they needed, and not just the information, which allowed (them) to conduct a successful military operation against Russian perpetrators of war crimes. We certainly won’t go into details now – you will see more of this in the future,” he said.
Mali said it had learned “with deep shock of the subversive remarks.”
It said Yusov had “admitted Ukraine’s involvement in a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups that resulted in the death of members of the Malian Defense and Security Forces.”
“The actions taken by the Ukrainian authorities violate the sovereignty of Mali, go beyond the scope of foreign interference, which is already condemnable in itself, and constitute a clear aggression against Mali and support for international terrorism,” the Malian government said.
It also cited comments by Ukraine’s ambassador to Senegal, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast and Liberia.
Senegal’s foreign minister summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Yurii Pyvovarov on Friday over a video it said the Ukrainian embassy had posted on its Facebook page in which Pyvovarov provided “unequivocal and unqualified support for the terrorist attack” in Mali.