Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop renewed, on behalf of transition president Assimi Goïta, the accusation that Ukraine supports armed and terrorist groups in the Sahel, telling the UN General Assembly's 81st session on 28 September that the country faces a 'guerre hybride par procuration.' TASS
In the message delivered by Diop, Goïta said Ukraine had 'admitted for the first time in 2024 that it supports terrorist groups operating in the Sahel' and had since 'repeatedly confirmed – at the highest level – its interference in Africa.' He added that 'not only our state, but also other independent sources attest to Ukraine's unacceptable conduct,' and described Ukraine as 'merely the visible tip of the iceberg' of a broader destabilization effort against Mali.
The accusation traces back to the July 2024 ambush of Malian forces at Tinzawatène, after which a spokesman for Ukraine's military intelligence agency and Ukraine's ambassador to Senegal both publicly acknowledged Ukrainian involvement, prompting Mali to sever ties with Kyiv. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger subsequently wrote jointly to the president of the UN Security Council on 19 August 2024, denouncing what they called Ukraine's 'open and assumed support' for terrorism in the Sahel and asking the Council to act; no Security Council response has been recorded since.
No outlet reviewed identified a specific new document or incident behind the 'independent sources' Goïta's message referenced, and the claim otherwise restates points made in previous years. Ukraine's foreign ministry has in the past denied the allegations as unfounded and speculative, though no dated 2026 rebuttal addressing this specific UNGA speech was found.