MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/. Individual representatives of the Ukrainian special services are on the ground in Mali, giving support to terrorist and jihadist groups, Viktor Vasilyev, an African affairs specialist and spin doctor, currently on assignment in that country, has told TASS. According to his sources, Ukrainian specialists help the militant groups learn to operate and use unmanned aerial vehicles.

"At the moment, according to my sources, it is true that, let's say, individual representatives of Ukraine's secret services are present here. Among other things, they help separatists and jihadist groups, first, to operate and, second, to use unmanned aerial vehicles on the battlefield," Vasilyev said.

He recalled earlier statements that terrorists were using FPV drones and heavy quadcopters - new types of reconnaissance and strike weapons that had previously been unavailable to jihadists.

At the same time, the expert noted that the attitude to Russian instructors on the part of local residents was positive.

"This became especially evident after the capture of Kidal - the separatist capital in the north-east of the country, when mass festivities were organized to celebrate this occasion," he said.

Situation in Mali

On July 26, armed militants attacked a patrol of government troops in the Tinzaouaten district (northeastern Mali, on the border with Algeria). According to the authorities of Mali, two government soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded. In turn, the government forces managed to eliminate about 20 terrorists and destroy their vehicles and equipment.

In a statement of the Russian assault squads uploaded to the official Telegram channel of the group PMC Wagner, it was noted that a group of militants from the Coordination of the Azawad Movements and the group Al-Qaeda in the Sahel Region, banned in Russia, which attacked the Russian assault squad in the vicinity of Tinzaouaten in Mali, numbered up to 1,000 men.

According to a communique released by Mali’s General Staff the Armed Forces are engaged in fierce battles with terrorist detachments in the area of Tinzaouaten. The communique notes that the zone where the clashes are in progress "remains a citadel of terrorists and smugglers of all sorts." The General Staff called on civilians to leave the terrorists-held areas to avoid casualties.

The armed conflict between the Malian authorities and extremist and separatist groups began in 2012. Since then, the country has been in a state of crisis, primarily in the sphere of security and socio-economic development.