NEW YORK, March 6. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky sent Ukrainian servicemen to Sudan in 2023 to take part in the conflict between the army chief and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

According to the newspaper, Ukraine responded to a request for help from the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, as he has allegedly been "quietly supplying Kiev with weapons" since the start of Russia’s special military operation. The Wall Street Journal said that "for Ukraine, sending troops to Africa is an audacious new venture, part of a strategy" against Russia.

The newspaper emphasized that such a Kiev’s decision "comes with significant political risk at a moment when Western support for Ukraine is wavering." Thus, Kiev has "waded into an internal conflict in a foreign country, where tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and the US says both sides have committed war crimes."

The situation in Sudan escalated amid disagreements between the army chief, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the ruling Sovereignty Council, and the head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), who is al-Burhan’s deputy on the council. The main points of contention between the two military organizations pertain to the timeline and methods for unifying the armed forces of Sudan, as well as who should be appointed as commander-in-chief of the army: a career military officer, which is al-Burhan’s preferred option, or an elected civilian president, as Dagalo insists. On April 15, 2023, armed clashes between the rival military factions erupted near a military base in Merowe and in the capital, Khartoum, and have been going on until today in various parts of the country.