Mali says cutting ties with Ukraine over alleged involvement in rebel attack
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — Mali's junta leader Assimi Goita is seen in Bamako, Mali June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Fatoma Coulibaly
BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali is immediately cutting diplomatic ties with Ukraine over comments by a spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence agency (GUR) about fighting in its north that killed Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters in late July, it said on Sunday.
Mali's northern Tuareg rebels say they killed at least 84 Russian Wagner mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers over days of fierce fighting in the north of the West African country in what appears to be Wagner's heaviest defeat since it stepped in two years ago to help Mali's military authorities fight insurgent groups.
GUR spokesperson Andriy Yusov has not confirmed Kyiv's involvement in the fighting, but in comments published on public broadcaster Suspilne's website on Monday, July 29, he said the Malian rebels had received the "necessary" information to conduct 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 Defence 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.
(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo and Bogdan Kobuchey in Kyiv; Writing by Portia Crowe; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
