Ukrainian special forces are on the hunt for the Wagner Group, and the African continent is a prime target. The Ukrainians signaled their presence – quite unexpectedly – in Sudan with a series of FPV drone attacks in August and September against General "Hemetti's" Rapid Support Force (RSF), allied with Russian mercenaries. Images filmed by suicide drones plunging into pick-up trucks on the outskirts of Khartoum were leaked on social media. This modus operandi, which appeared on the Ukrainian battlefield in late 2022, had never been seen in Africa. In some of the images recorded by the anonymous drone pilot, letters of the Ukrainian alphabet could be seen.
Kyiv has not taken responsibility for the attacks, but the meeting – presented as "unscheduled" – on Saturday, September 23 between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of Khartoum's ruling junta, looked like a confirmation. The two men, accompanied by their defense ministers, met in a lounge at Shannon airport in Ireland, an unlikely place for an "unscheduled" meeting. Ukraine's new Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar Muslim, is known to have a wide network in the Muslim world.
"This meeting clearly establishes that Ukraine has sided with one side in Sudan's civil war. And that side is, naturally, the one opposed to the Moscow-backed camp," said Yevhen Dikiy, founder of the Aidar battalion and now a military expert. He was referring to the Wagner Group's support – at first discreet at the start of the conflict, then obvious over the last two months – for the RSF commanded by rebel leader Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, known as "Hemetti."
"Ukraine has no African policy. On the other hand, we have scores to settle with [the Wagner Group] and with Russia. Every Ukrainian officer, wherever he or she may be, will make a point of thwarting their plans," said Dikiy. The expert recalled that the Ukrainian presence in Africa, while discreet, was not new. Some 400 Ukrainian military personnel had been deployed in Goma (eastern Democratic Republic of Congo) for a decade, until the Russian invasion of 2022.
The "war of the generals" that has been tearing Sudan apart since April 2023 has provided the Ukrainians with an opportunity to regain a foothold on the continent. A source told Le Monde that the special forces of the GUR (Ukrainian military intelligence service) got on General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's good side by managing a highly complex evacuation of foreign civilians by land to Egypt. "They demonstrated their effectiveness and were able to create a bond of trust, which explains why the general called on the GUR to counter his pro-Russian adversary. Everything suggests that Ukrainian military advisors are still present in Khartoum," said the source.
You have 25.01% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.