Ukrainian intelligence officials claim its special forces are hunting down Russian soldiers on the Nile. Whilst the claims seem far-fetched at first, new video evidence has emerged that suggest Ukrainian operatives are indeed active in Sudan.

Source: NZZ Andreas Rüesch, Forrest Rogers March 1, 2024  5 min

Kirilo Budanov, the telegenic head of Ukrainian military intelligence, is not only adept at planning deadly missions far behind enemy lines. The just 38-year-old lieutenant general also masterfully cultivates the aura of a mysterious chief agent who keeps the public in suspense with cryptic words.

At a conference in Kiev on Sunday, Budanov is said to have spoken plainly for once. For the first time, he confirmed to the newspaper «Obosrewatel» rumors that Ukraine is deploying special units in Sudan. The aim is to «destroy» the Russian enemy in every conceivable place on Earth.

Russia supports rebels in Sudan

Russia has had troops – including several hundred men from the paramilitary group Wagner – in Sudan since 2017 . However, their role has changed over time. Initially, they were tasked with training soldiers for Omar al-Bashir’s regime and safeguarding Russian gold mining interests. Moscow also conducted negotiations on the creation of a naval base on the Red Sea. After the fall of Bashir, however, the Russians were caught up in the maelstrom of internal Sudanese conflict.

When an open civil war broke out in 2023, Russian fighters sided with the rebel leader Mohammed Hamdan Daglo and, according to American intelligence, supplied him with weapons. On the other side is the Sudanese army under General Abdelfatah al-Burhan. If Kiev’s account is to be believed, the Ukrainian secret service has intervened on al-Burhan’s behalf and is hunting down Russian paramilitaries on the other side.

At first glance, this seems like far-fetched propaganda. Ukraine is under enormous military pressure in its own country and cannot deploy elite troops indiscriminately in other theaters. It cannot be ruled out that the secret service is exaggerating its clout and wants to present itself as a global player.

Interrogation in Russian under palm trees

However, for several months now, new evidence has been emerging that Ukrainian special forces are indeed fighting in Sudan. A video published by the «Kyiv Post» three weeks ago shows a masked man in combat fatigues interrogating three prisoners of war and speaking Russian. One of them identifies himself as a member of the Wagner group and says that he and a group of one hundred men had advanced from the Central African Republic into Sudanese territory with the mission of overthrowing the local government.

The authenticity of the video cannot be confirmed with certainty, although the surroundings – with reddish sand and palm trees – suggest that it was taken in Africa. The interrogation officer’s cap can be identified as a product of a Ukrainian manufacturer of military clothing. Another man in uniform is wearing the emblem of the Ukrainian secret service HUR on his upper arm.

Quelle: Kyiv Post

NZZ / sro.

This doesn’t rule out staging, although there are other clues that point in the direction of Ukraine. For example, the news channel CNN published video clips of several drone attacks in Sudan in September. These all took place in the greater Khartoum area, the country’s capital, which is being fought over by civil war parties. A video clip shows the drone operator’s monitor and the message «Supiniti,» the Ukrainian word for «stop.»

The attack in question was directed against four pick-up vehicles on the bridge between Khartoum and the town of Omdurman on the west bank of the Nile, which is controlled by Daglo’s rebels. Further video clips show kamikaze drones attacking people in the maze of houses in Omdurman.

A drone attack on the bridge between Khartoum and Omdurman.

CNN

The nature of the attacks would also be consistent with a Ukrainian operation. Very few armies in the world have mastered this type of drone technology – the interaction of a surveillance drone that follows the action from high above, and a so-called first-person view drone that attacks a target and explodes on impact. The operation bears the hallmarks of Ukrainian drone units and is unlikely to be the work of a Sudanese civil war party.

Another indication is a video published in October showing a light-skinned sniper lying in wait on a hill and firing at a target in the distance.

The research group Bellingcat has identified the location; it is a desert area outside Omdurman. It is highly likely that these images also originated with the authorities in Kiev, who want to fuel speculation about a Ukrainian secret service operation.

Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence service definitely carried out a special mission in Sudan last April to rescue Ukrainian citizens from the chaos of war, and it is possible that a task force remained in the country afterwards. It is also known that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a somewhat curious meeting with the Sudanese junta leader Burhan in Ireland in September. According to Selenski , this was about «common security challenges,» in particular armed groups financed by Russia. This referred to the Wagner Force, which has since been gradually disbanded and placed under the control of the Russian Ministry of Defense in a new form.

If the reports of a Ukrainian secret war in Sudan are true, this would lead to only one conclusion: Kyiv wants to weaken Russia on another continent – 3,500 kilometers away from the front in its own country.