A file picture shows Tuareg fighters of the Coordination of Movements of the Azawad (CMA) driving near Kidal, northern Mali . AFP
Ukraine denied late on Monday media reports that it has been involved in supplying drones to rebels fighting in the north of Mali.
The French Le Monde newspaper reported that the Tuareg fighters in the West African country use Ukrainian drones with "discreet but decisive" support from Kyiv against the Mali army and Russia's Wagner mercenary group that said it fights alongside it.
"Ukraine strongly rejects the accusations that have recently been released by the international media outlets about the alleged involvement of our state in the supply of UAVs to the rebels in Mali," Ukraine's foreign ministry said in a statement, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.
Mali, where military authorities seized power in coups in 2020 and 2021, is battling a years-long Islamist insurgency, with heavy fighting against Tuareg rebels ongoing near Mali's border with Algeria.
In August, Mali cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine over Kyiv's comments that the rebels got all "necessary" information to conduct attacks that reportedly killed scores of Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters in the north.
Russia, which in recent years has intensified efforts to gain influence in Africa, including Mali, has accused Ukraine of opening a "second front" against Russia by supporting fighters in Moscow-friendly African states.
Moscow has been waging a devastating war against Ukraine since February 2022, which has killed thousands of people, the vast majority of them Ukrainians.
Mali immediately cut diplomatic ties with with Kyiv over comments by a spokesman 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 spokesman 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 by 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.