Ukraine is fighting Russia anywhere it can – even in the deserts of Africa

The conditions are grueling. Temperatures regularly soar above 110 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, then drop sharply overnight. Water is scarce and the dust and sand get everywhere. But at least they are working above ground. This elite group of Ukrainian drone operators has spent years hunting Russians from dugouts in Ukraine. They are still doing the same – but in the desert in northern Mali.

Some 15 Ukrainian specialists have been deployed to the junta-led country in Africa’s Sahel region to assist local rebel forces who are fighting Russian troops – part of Kyiv’s mission to weaken its enemy wherever it operates. And Kyiv has also branched out to other theaters of conflict, capitalizing on its hard-won expertise in drone warfare to forge new anti-Russian partnerships.

Speaking to Ukrainian soldiers and officers involved in operations in Mali and Libya, CNN can reveal for the first time the extent of these operations on other continents. A Ukrainian Defense Intelligence source with knowledge of the operations told CNN that several Ukrainian specialists were also stationed in Sudan and that troops from Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso had previously traveled to Mali to receive drone training from Ukrainian soldiers there.

When Iran began striking US allies in the Middle East earlier this year, Ukraine sent teams of military experts to at least five countries in the Middle East. They spent several weeks teaching local forces how to take down the Iranian-made Shahed drones which Russia has been using to terrorize Ukraine for several years. One Ukrainian soldier who was deployed to the United Arab Emirates told CNN they were operating in combined teams with local troops driving alongside them and mirroring their every move.

In exchange for sharing its know-how, Kyiv received an array of security cooperation agreements and promises of ammunition.

In the Sahel, a vast semi-arid region to the south of the Sahara Desert, the situation is more complicated.

Paul Lorgerie/For The Washington Post/Getty Images

Russia has been trying to assert itself as a power player in Africa , especially in the mineral-rich, coup-prone Sahel region. It has tried to fill the security void left by the withdrawal of French and other Western forces in recent years, propping up governments in exchange for cash and lucrative mining rights.

At first, the Kremlin outsourced these operations to the Wagner Group, a private military company owned by entrepreneurial warlord Yevgeny Prigozhin. After Prigozhin’s death following his attempted coup in 2023, Moscow merged what remained of Wagner with its regular military, creating the Africa Corps, which deploys in support of Moscow’s local allies.

The Ukrainian group in Mali is embedded with a separatist group that calls itself the Azawad Liberation Front and is composed mostly of northern Tuareg rebels. They are not directly involved in the frontline fighting but provide the rebels with support, training and operational help, two Ukrainians deployed there told CNN.

“I coordinate their operations remotely. The signal from their drone comes to me over the internet, and I immediately tell them via radio what to do and where to fly,” one of the Ukrainian drone operators currently in Mali told CNN.

“They go out on missions, then return to me, and we go over every detail of their actions. I don’t go out to the front lines myself — that was a direct order from my superiors,” he said.

Russia has previously accused Ukraine of participating in massacres against civilians in Mali – an accusation Kyiv has denied. Separately, rights group Human Rights Watch released two reports over the summer accusing Russian troops in Mali of killing civilians, and another report that said that “all parties” directly engaged in the conflict unlawfully attacked civilians during a flare-up in violence in April. The report did not mention Ukraine.

Asked about the allegations last month, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters the Africa Corps “operates strictly within the bounds of legality” and “in response to official requests from the legitimate governments of African states.”

The Ukrainian Defense Intelligence source told CNN the point of the overseas deployments is to put pressure on Russia and undermine the notion that Moscow can be a reliable ally. “We are turning our experience in the field of (drones) into a foreign policy tool,” the source said.

Francisco Richart/Anadolu/Getty Images

Ukraine’s battlefield optimism is ebbing as Russia threatens its ‘fortress belt’

But he said the mission is also beneficial to the Ukrainians because it gives them a chance to test their equipment and skills in a completely different environment – and to show partners their methods work everywhere.

“Dust and heat cause equipment to fail faster. Filters, cooling, electronics protection, batteries… everything works differently (and) requires serious adaptation,” he said, adding that even the way the war is fought is vastly different.

“In Ukraine, it’s high intensity, massive strikes, constant pressure. Here it’s more of a maneuverable war over large territories, ambushes, route control, working in small groups and depending on knowledge of the terrain.”

Differences in discipline and training require adaptation on both sides, he said, adding: “We teach them tactics; they teach us to survive and fight.”

Russia is also using its operations in Africa to expand and adapt its military technology. Just this week, the state-owned weapons exporter, Rosoboronexport, presented new missiles and drones at the El Alamein International Airshow in Egypt, with the agency’s chief telling the Russian state news agency TASS these weapons are “proven” for combat in Africa and the Middle East.

The Ukrainian contingents are small, but they are a sign of Ukraine’s growing confidence that its drone expertise has elevated its global status.

Héni Nsaibia, West Africa senior analyst at Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), an independent conflict monitor, told CNN that Mali is one of the countries where Russia now plays a crucial role.

“They provide an essential lifeline to the regime,” he said, adding that Africa Corps forces have been “instrumental in preventing a more profound collapse, and possibly even the fall of the regime.”

“But (the Russians) also need this military regime in place in order to be able to stay in Mali,” Nsaibia added.

The first allegations that Ukraine was helping the Tuaregs came in 2024. In July that year, the rebels ambushed and killed dozens of Wagner fighters and Malian soldiers near the town of Tinzaouaten, on the border with Algeria.

Andriy Yusov, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, said at the time that the rebels received “necessary information” from Kyiv to fight the Russians. And while Ukraine later denied any substantial cooperation with the rebels, Yusov’s comment prompted a backlash from the military juntas of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, who lodged an official complaint with the United Nations Security Council, accusing Ukraine of sponsoring terrorists.

CNN asked Defense Intelligence for comment for this article and was referred to earlier comments made by officials.

The drone operator told CNN that Ukrainians also assisted rebels in the takeover of the strategic northern Mali town of Kidal earlier this year. The Tuareg rebels and militants linked to al Qaeda launched simultaneous attacks against the Russian troops, forcing them to withdraw. The Russian Defense Ministry accused Kyiv of playing a role in the attack, saying in a statement that “Ukrainian and European mercenary instructors” trained the rebels before the assault.

Nsaibia said the Kidal takeover marked a key defeat for the Malian regime – and the Russian troops that have been propping it up.

“It was a major setback that they lost Kidal and had to negotiate a safe corridor to be able to withdraw,” he told CNN. However, Nsaibia said that the situation could have been much worse for the Malian regime, had it not been for the assistance of Russia’s Africa Corps.

The attack in Kidal highlighted the massive difference drones can make on the battlefield in Mali and elsewhere in the Sahel, where war still tends to be fought in more traditional ways, using infantry troops equipped with rudimentary weapons.

The Ukrainians in Mali told CNN the partnership with the Tuareg is one of convenience, not necessarily conviction.

“Culture and religion are different, but when you are being attacked by the same idiots, ideological differences fade into the background,” the Defense Intelligence source said.

Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The drone operator told CNN that his personal opinions and feelings are irrelevant.

He described some of the rebels as “radicals” who are prone to spontaneously shoot in the air and act in “disruptive ways.”

“Sometimes it’s emotionally hard to ignore certain things. It just so happens that we’re on the same side of the barricades right now… if these guys go on to successfully beat the Russians, we’ll be more than happy to train them,” he told CNN.

He believes any operation that weakens the Russians can help Ukraine move the needle towards victory at home. “It puts pressure on them. This whole story has both psychological and real results,” he told CNN.

Earlier this year, a group of Greek fishermen spotted a mysterious black vessel floating near the country’s western island of Lefkada.

It turned out to be a Ukrainian naval drone carrying explosives. Greece issued a formal diplomatic protest to Ukraine and Kyiv officially apologized for the incident, but it blamed Russia for creating the situation by attacking Ukraine and using a “shadow” fleet of oil tankers. These allow Russia to sell its oil in defiance of international sanctions, helping to finance the war.

The drone had escaped from Ukrainian operators deployed to northwestern Libya, where they have been stationed since the end of 2025, the Ukrainian defense intelligence source told CNN.

Vlad Smilianets/Reuters

Their presence there was first reported by French public broadcaster RFI in the spring, and while never officially confirmed by the Ukrainian government, it is now an open secret. One Ukrainian naval drone operator deployed in Libya told CNN his unit was using the international military base in Misrata as a launchpad to attack Russia’s shadow fleet in exchange for training local forces.

Like the aerial drone operator in Mali, he was recruited earlier this year by Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence straight from his previous post in Ukraine.

Ukraine – a longstanding contributor to UN-peacekeeping missions in northern and central Africa before Russia’s full-scale invasion – has made no secret of its desire to become a different kind of player on the continent.

Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s former spy chief who is now the head of Zelensky’s presidential office, said in 2023 that Ukraine’s goal was to “keep killing Russians anywhere on the face of this world until the complete victory of Ukraine.”

It’s a sentiment shared by all the Ukrainian troops who spoke with CNN.

On Monday, Budanov once again pointed to Ukraine’s growing global footprint, posting a statement on social media celebrating its Defense Intelligence for protecting the country’s interests around the world, from “Russia to Africa, in a suit and in camouflage.”

条件极其艰苦。白天气温经常飙升至华氏110度以上，夜间又骤降。水源匮乏，尘土飞扬，无处不在。但至少他们是在地面上作业。这支乌克兰无人机精英部队多年来一直在乌克兰境内的掩体中搜寻俄罗斯人。如今，他们仍在做着同样的事情——只不过这次是在马里北部的沙漠中。

约15名乌克兰专家已被派往非洲萨赫勒地区这个由军政府统治的国家，协助当地反叛武装对抗俄罗斯军队——这是基辅削弱其敌人在各地行动的战略的一部分。此外，基辅还将其触角延伸至其他冲突地区，利用其在无人机作战方面来之不易的专业技术，建立新的反俄伙伴关系。

通过与参与马里和利比亚军事行动的乌克兰士兵和军官的对话，CNN首次披露了乌克兰在其他大洲开展军事行动的规模。一位了解相关行动的乌克兰国防情报部门消息人士告诉CNN，一些乌克兰专家也驻扎在苏丹，而来自乍得、尼日尔和布基纳法索的部队此前曾前往马里接受驻马乌克兰士兵的无人机训练。

今年早些时候，伊朗开始袭击美国在中东的盟友，乌克兰随即向至少五个中东国家派遣了军事专家小组。他们花了数周时间，指导当地部队如何击落伊朗制造的“沙赫德”无人机。俄罗斯多年来一直利用这种无人机在乌克兰境内进行恐怖活动。一位曾被派往阿联酋的乌克兰士兵告诉CNN，他们与当地部队组成联合小组，当地部队会跟随他们行进，并模仿他们的每一个动作。

作为分享技术诀窍的交换，基辅获得了一系列安全合作协议和弹药供应承诺。

在撒哈拉沙漠以南的广袤半干旱地区萨赫勒，情况则更为复杂。

Paul Lorgerie/《华盛顿邮报》/Getty Images

俄罗斯一直试图在非洲，尤其是在矿产资源丰富但政变频发的萨赫勒地区，确立其强权地位。近年来，随着法国和其他西方军队的撤离，萨赫勒地区留下了安全真空，俄罗斯试图填补这一空白，通过向当地政府提供资金和利润丰厚的采矿权来换取支持。

起初，克里姆林宫将这些行动外包给了瓦格纳集团，这是一家由商业巨头军阀叶夫根尼·普里戈任拥有的私人军事公司。2023年普里戈任发动政变未遂身亡后，莫斯科将瓦格纳集团的残余势力与其正规军合并，组建了非洲军团，该军团负责支援莫斯科在当地的盟友。

据两名部署在马里的乌克兰人告诉CNN，这支乌克兰部队隶属于一个自称“阿扎瓦德解放阵线”的分离主义组织，该组织主要由北部图阿雷格叛军组成。他们不直接参与前线战斗，而是为叛军提供支持、训练和行动协助。

“我远程协调他们的行动。他们的无人机信号通过互联网传到我这里，我立即通过无线电告诉他们该做什么以及飞到哪里，”目前在马里的一名乌克兰无人机操作员告诉CNN。

“他们执行任务后回来向我汇报，我们会详细审查他们行动的每一个细节。我本人不去前线——那是上级的直接命令，”他说。

俄罗斯此前曾指责乌克兰参与了在马里对平民的屠杀——基辅方面否认了这一指控。此外，人权观察组织在今年夏季发布了两份报告，指责驻马里的俄罗斯军队杀害平民；另一份报告则指出，在4月份暴力冲突升级期间，“所有直接参与冲突的各方”都非法袭击了平民。该报告并未提及乌克兰。

上个月，当被问及这些指控时，俄罗斯外交部长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫告诉记者，非洲军团“严格在法律范围内运作”，并且“是响应非洲国家合法政府的正式请求”。

乌克兰国防情报部门消息人士告诉CNN，海外部署的目的是向俄罗斯施压，并削弱莫斯科作为可靠盟友的形象。“我们正在将我们在（无人机）领域的经验转化为外交政策工具，”该消息人士说。

弗朗西斯科·理查特/阿纳多卢/盖蒂图片社

随着俄罗斯威胁其“堡垒带”，乌克兰在战场上的乐观情绪正在消退。

但他表示，这次任务对乌克兰人也很有益处，因为它让他们有机会在一个完全不同的环境中测试他们的设备和技能，并向合作伙伴展示他们的方法在任何地方都有效。

“灰尘和高温会导致设备更快损坏。过滤器、冷却系统、电子保护装置、电池……所有部件的运作方式都发生了变化，需要进行重大调整，”他说道，并补充说，甚至战争的作战方式也截然不同。

“在乌克兰，战争强度很高，打击力度很大，压力也很大。而在这里，战争更像是一场在广阔领土上进行的机动战，以伏击、路线控制为主，作战人员以小队形式行动，并依赖于对地形的了解。”

他表示，双方在纪律和训练上的差异需要双方做出调整，并补充道：“我们教他们战术；他们教我们如何生存和战斗。”

俄罗斯也在利用其在非洲的军事行动来扩展和改进其军事技术。就在本周，俄罗斯国有武器出口公司俄罗斯国防出口公司在埃及阿拉曼国际航展上展示了新型导弹和无人机。该公司负责人告诉俄罗斯塔斯社，这些武器在非洲和中东的实战中“久经考验”。

乌克兰的无人机部队规模虽小，但这表明乌克兰越来越自信，认为其无人机技术提升了其全球地位。

独立冲突监测机构“武装冲突地点与事件数据”（ACLED）的西非高级分析师赫尼·恩赛比亚告诉CNN，马里是俄罗斯目前发挥关键作用的国家之一。

“他们为该政权提供了至关重要的生命线，”他说，并补充说，非洲军团部队“在防止政权更严重的崩溃，甚至可能推翻政权方面发挥了重要作用”。

“但（俄罗斯人）也需要维持这种军事政权才能继续留在马里，”恩赛比亚补充道。

2024 年，首次有指控称乌克兰在帮助图阿雷格人。同年 7 月，叛军在与阿尔及利亚接壤的廷扎瓦滕镇附近伏击并杀害了数十名瓦格纳武装分子和马里士兵。

乌克兰国防情报局发言人安德烈·尤索夫当时表示，叛军从基辅获得了对抗俄罗斯的“必要情报”。尽管乌克兰后来否认与叛军有任何实质性合作，但尤索夫的言论引发了马里、尼日尔和布基纳法索军政府的强烈反弹，他们向联合国安理会提出正式申诉，指责乌克兰资助恐怖分子。

CNN就本文向国防情报部门寻求置评，但被告知需参考官员此前发表的评论。

无人机操作员告诉CNN，今年早些时候，乌克兰方面也曾协助反叛分子占领马里北部战略重镇基达尔。图阿雷格反叛分子和与基地组织有关联的武装分子同时对俄军发动袭击，迫使俄军撤退。俄罗斯国防部指责基辅参与了此次袭击，并在声明中称，“乌克兰和欧洲的雇佣兵教官”在袭击前对反叛分子进行了训练。

恩赛比亚表示，基达尔的占领标志着马里政权及其背后的俄罗斯军队的一次重大失败。

“基达尔的失守对他们来说是一次重大挫折，他们不得不谈判开辟一条安全通道才能撤退，”他告诉CNN。然而，恩赛比亚表示，如果不是俄罗斯非洲军团的援助，马里政权的处境可能会更加糟糕。

基达尔的袭击事件凸显了无人机在马里和萨赫勒地区其他战场上所能发挥的巨大作用，在这些地区，战争仍然倾向于以更传统的方式进行，使用装备简陋武器的步兵部队。

在马里的乌克兰人告诉 CNN，与图阿雷格人的合作是出于便利，而非出于信念。

“文化和宗教各不相同，但当你受到同一群白痴的攻击时，意识形态的差异就会变得无关紧要，”这位国防情报部门的消息人士说。

Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg/Getty Images

无人机操作员告诉 CNN，他的个人意见和感受无关紧要。

他将一些叛乱分子描述为“激进分子”，他们经常会突然向空中鸣枪，并采取“破坏性行为”。

“有时候，在情感上很难忽视某些事情。碰巧我们现在站在同一阵线上……如果这些人最终成功击败俄罗斯人，我们非常乐意训练他们，”他告诉CNN。

他认为，任何削弱俄罗斯的行动都能帮助乌克兰在国内取得胜利。“这会给他们施加压力。整个事件既有心理上的影响，也有实际的影响，”他告诉CNN。

今年早些时候，一群希腊渔民在该国西部的莱夫卡达岛附近发现了一艘神秘的黑色船只。

结果发现，这是一架携带炸药的乌克兰海军无人机。希腊向乌克兰提出了正式外交抗议，基辅方面也就此事正式道歉，但指责俄罗斯发动袭击乌克兰并利用一支“影子”油轮舰队制造了这一局面。这些油轮使俄罗斯能够无视国际制裁出售石油，从而为战争提供资金。

据 CNN 报道，乌克兰国防情报部门消息人士称，这架无人机是从部署在利比亚西北部的乌克兰操作员手中逃脱的，他们自 2025 年底以来一直驻扎在那里。

弗拉德·斯米利亚内茨/路透社

今年春天，法国公共广播公司RFI率先报道了他们的存在。虽然乌克兰政府从未正式证实，但这已是公开的秘密。一名部署在利比亚的乌克兰海军无人机操作员告诉CNN，他的部队利用米苏拉塔的国际军事基地作为跳板，攻击俄罗斯的影子舰队，以此换取对当地部队的训练。

与马里的无人机操作员一样，他也是今年早些时候被乌克兰国防情报部门直接从他在乌克兰的原岗位上招募过来的。

在俄罗斯全面入侵之前，乌克兰一直是联合国在北非和中非维和行动的长期贡献者，它毫不掩饰自己希望成为非洲大陆上不同类型的参与者的愿望。

乌克兰前情报局长、现任泽连斯基总统办公室主任基里洛·布达诺夫在2023年表示，乌克兰的目标是“在世界任何地方继续杀害俄罗斯人，直到乌克兰取得彻底胜利”。

所有接受 CNN 采访的乌克兰士兵都表达了同样的感受。

周一，布达诺夫再次强调了乌克兰日益增长的全球影响力，他在社交媒体上发表声明，赞扬乌克兰国防情报部门保护了该国在世界各地的利益，“从俄罗斯到非洲，无论身着西装还是迷彩服”。