Ukrainian soldier launches drone: such support was given to insurgents in Syria.Image: keystone
The Ukrainian military intelligence service participated in the fall of Bashar al-Assad. It also fights the Russian aggressor in global theaters of war, such as in Africa.
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The war in Ukraine has repercussions as far as Syria. The rebels who brought down the dictator Bashar al-Assad, supported by Russia, were supported in their advance by the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR, reports the editorialist of the Washington Post David Ignatius, citing informed sources.
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The Ukrainians sent “around 20 experienced drone operators” and around 150 drones to the rebel headquarters in Idlib, according to Ignatius. It didn’t make much difference, kyiv’s aid played “a modest role” in Assad’s fall. But Ukraine is increasingly struggling against Russian activities on global fronts.
Kyrylo Budanov, the commander of the HUR military intelligence service, orchestrates global operations against Russia.Image: keystone
In Moscow, we perceived the danger. There was a “Ukrainian lead,” Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said last week as the rebels advanced. There was information that Ukrainian intelligence services were collaborating with the terrorists, providing them with drones and operating manuals.
Ambush in Mali
The English-speaking online portal Kyiv Post had reported that military intelligence had participated in the training of Islamist rebels in Syria. According to Zakharova, Syria is not the only country Ukraine is interfering in. Previously, kyiv had caused unrest in Africa and particularly in Mali, where a military junta favorable to Russia seized power in 2021.
Indeed, at the end of July, an army convoy accompanied by Russian mercenaries from Wagner fell into an ambush set by separatist Tuaregs. During the fighting which lasted several days, 84 mercenaries and 47 Malian soldiers were killed, according to the latter.
Other operations announced
The insurgents were supported by Ukrainian military intelligence. “They received the necessary information that allowed them to carry out the successful military operation against Russian war criminals,” said Andriy Yousov of HUR. Whereupon Mali and its neighbor Niger, also governed by the army, severed relations with Ukraine.
“The monopoly of Russian private armies in Africa is coming to an end”
Yousov
But that’s not all since Ukraine would also intervene in Sudan, torn by a civil war, against the Wagner group renamed “Afrikakorps”, which the head of the secret services neither confirmed nor denied to Politico.
Reducing Russia’s potential
The strategy is clear: while the Ukrainians are under pressure on the “home front”, they are trying to strike the Russians on grounds where they are not prepared to do so. “We are carrying out, wherever possible, operations aimed at reducing Russia’s military potential,” HUR chief Kyrylo Boudanov told Washington Post in April.
The enigmatic secret service commander explicitly mentioned Africa. However, its agents were also active in Syria. And made a small contribution to the fact that Vladimir Putin could not – or did not want to – keep his loyal vassal Bashar al-Assad in power.
Translated and adapted by Noëline Flippe
