HARARE, August 7. /TASS/. The current Kiev regime has turned Ukraine into the West’s terrorist mercenary to destabilize situation in Africa, Editor-in-Chief of Zimbabwe's New Ziana News Agency Rangarirai Shoko told TASS.

"Niger's decision to sever relations with Kiev is quite understandable from a security and geostrategic point of view. Ukraine has become a threat, as a hired Western terrorist hand, not only to Niger, but the Sahel region as a whole," the political scientist said.

"It is no coincidence that Ukraine has entered the fray in the conflicts in the Sahel [region] just after governments in the region kicked out French and American troops on suspicion of stirring up the rebellions. The French and the Americans hired Kiev to take over their destabilizing role, which was too eager to oblige to keep Western money and arms flowing to Ukraine in its futile attempt to defeat Russia," he emphasized.

According to the expert, "Kiev's involvement in the conflict in Mali on the side of anti-government rebels is primarily motivated by a desire to ingratiate itself with the West, which has been shown the door in the country, to keep Western money and arms flowing into Ukraine." "It is yet another example where Ukraine is sacrificing its sovereign interests, in this case building good relations with other states, in order to please the West," the political scientist concluded.

Severing relations with Ukraine

The government of Niger has announced the immediate severing of diplomatic relations with Ukraine, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, citing a statement by the official representative of the country’s authorities. Two days earlier, the Malian leadership decided to sever diplomatic relations with Ukraine in connection with Kiev's support of terrorists in the country. The issue in question was the statement by Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andrey Yusov about Kiev's involvement in the attack by armed terrorist groups on members of the Malian government troops in late July in the northeastern region of Tinzaouaten, near the border with Algeria.