Why Ukraine's Special Forces Are Fighting Wagner In Africa

Because as the Hamas attack on Israel demonstrates, the fight against Russian aggression is global. JL 

Howard Altman reports in The Drive:

Attacking Wagner forces in Africa would mark a small but significant expansion of the war in Ukraine and seems to fulfill the promise GUR's commander made to hunt down "Russian military criminals" anywhere in the world. The action and several others took place in Sudan against Wagner  forces. Wagner is working there with the Rapid Reaction Forces (RSF) to topple the government in Sudan, where there's an ongoing civil war against the Sudanese Armed Forces. “Ukrainian special forces did conduct operations in Sudan against” Wagner and RSF."

In newly released video, a special unit sniper of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR) is seen lying prone on a rocky outcrop, firing rounds from his suppressed rifle at a target near a house in the distance.

Instead of taking place somewhere in Ukraine, however, the Babel Telegram channel says that action and several others took place in Sudan against Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) forces. Wagner is working there with the Rapid Reaction Forces (RSF) to topple the government in Sudan, where there's an ongoing civil war against the Sudanese Armed Forces. Wagner, as we have previously reported, has been active for years in Africa. It has assisted several post-coup governments as Russia seeks to expand its influence on the continent.

 

Attacking Wagner forces in Africa would mark a small but significant expansion of the war in Ukraine and seems to fulfill the promise GUR's commander made to hunt down "Russian military criminals" anywhere in the world. (More on that later.)

“Ukrainian special forces did conduct operations in Sudan against” Wagner and RSF, Babel said Friday. “This information was confirmed to Babel by sources in intelligence circles [who] provided several videos. The details of the operation have not yet been disclosed.”

In addition to the 22-second sniper video, Babel posted two others. They depict some of the tactics - especially First Person View (FPV) drones swooping in on targets - that GUR has used against Russians in Ukraine but have been uncommon in Africa.

A 2-minute, 46-second video begins where the first one left off, then shows what’s claimed to be a GUR member on a rooftop, firing a light machine gun. The video then cuts to a drone’s view of explosions in several buildings in a crowded city. At one point someone inspects a body lying on the road. He then looks up and points at the drone capturing the scene. It ends with three snipers on the same rocky outcrop seen in the first video.

 

A 36-second video shows four men, some armed with rifles, walking out of a building down a garbage-strewn alley. The next scene is from the perspective of an FPV drone, which circles the building. That video ends with smoke pouring out of the building, apparently after being struck by the FPV drone.

The videos are not geolocated and we have no way of independently verifying their authenticity. However, the clips do appear similar to those seen in a compilation of videos CNN published last month that it geolocated to “in and around Omdurman, a city across the Nile River from the capital Khartoum which has become a focal point of fighting between [Sudan’s] two rival factions.”

The videos show precision strikes by FPV drones on trucks, individuals and buildings, as well as a night operation by unidentified troops. An unnamed source told CNN that “Ukrainian special services were likely responsible.”

 

The GUR has previous experience in Sudan, it should be noted.

When fighting first broke out in April, it conducted a rescue operation to evacuate nearly 140 people from war-torn Khartoum, according to the GUR Facebook page.

The GUR says it rescued nearly 140 people from Khartoum during heavy fighting.. (GUR photo)

 

Though he declined comment about the videos posted Friday by Babel, the GUR’s commander previously responded to our questions about whether GUR carried out the attacks in Sudan described in the CNN story.

Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov would neither confirm nor deny his agency's involvement in those attacks, but he said that such actions should not come as a surprise.

“...anywhere across the world we will be seeking and hunting down Russian military criminals, and sooner or later that time will come whenever they are,” Budanov told us during an hour-long exclusive interview in his hotel room while he was visiting Washington D.C. “That is why we shouldn't be surprised when in any territory, something happens to Russian military criminals.”