Exclusive: Ukraine’s special services ‘likely’ behind strikes on Wagner-backed forces in Sudan, a Ukrainian military source says
By Victoria Butenko,
Nima Elbagir,
Gianluca Mezzofiore,
Tamara Qiblawi, Allegra Goodwin, Andrew Carey, Pallabi Munsi, Mahamat Tahir Zene,
Barbara Arvanitidis and
Alex Platt, CNN Video by Mark Baron and
Lauren Kent, CNN
Updated 10:17 AM EDT, Wed September 20, 2023
Kyiv, Ukraine and N'Djamena, Chad CNN —
Ukrainian special services were likely behind a series of drone strikes and a ground operation directed against a
Wagner-backed militia
near Sudan’s capital, a CNN investigation has found, raising the prospect that the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spread far from the frontlines.
Speaking to CNN, a Ukrainian military source described the operation as the work of a “non-Sudanese military.” Pressed on whether Kyiv was behind the attacks, the source would only say that “Ukrainian special services were likely responsible.”
The operation involved a series of attacks on the paramilitary group
Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is believed to be
receiving assistance from Wagner, the Russian mercenary group, in its fight against the Sudanese army for control of the country.
CNN was unable to independently confirm Ukraine’s involvement in the series of strikes. But video footage obtained by CNN revealed the hallmarks of Ukrainian-style drone attacks.
...
Two commercially available drones widely used by Ukrainians were involved in at least eight of the strikes, with Ukrainian text seen on the drone controller. Experts also said the tactics used – namely the pattern of drones swooping directly into their target – were highly unusual in Sudan and the wider African region.
Covert strikes by Ukraine in Sudan would mark a dramatic and provocative expansion of Kyiv’s theater of war against Moscow. Aside from a string of
Ukrainian drone attacks that hit deep inside Russian territory, Ukraine’s ongoing counter-offensive has been focused on the country’s occupied east and south...
