Hunt down

Ukrainian forces hunt down Russian fighters worldwide

Kyiv says its actions against Russia abroad are “within the framework of international law.”

BY VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA

Ukrainian special services are hunting Russians abroad, Andriy Yusov, an official with Ukraine’s HUR military intelligence, told POLITICO.

“Ukrainian intelligence has to be present wherever there is a need to destroy the enemy, which is waging a full-scale war against Ukraine. We are present wherever it is possible to weaken the interests of Russia,” Yusov said in Kyiv.

“As for Sudan … I can neither confirm nor deny,” he added with a smile.

Earlier this month, the Kyiv Post published a video of Ukrainian special forces questioning Russian-speaking fighters captured in Sudan who said they were with the Wagner Group mercenary outfit. On the video, a Russian-speaking Ukrainian soldier that HUR identified by his call-sign, "Timur," asks one of the prisoners where he is from and why he came to Sudan.

“We are from Wagner private military company. [We came here] to overthrow the local government,” the fighter responds in Russian.

The mercenary added there were a hundred Wagner fighters in Sudan, and that they were based in the neighboring Central African Republic.

In November, the Kyiv Post obtained two videos purporting to show Ukrainian special forces operators hunting Russian mercenaries in Sudan.

Russia has a significant footprint in Africa, initially led by Wagner Group mercenaries but now called the Africa Corps and formed by the Russian defense ministry. They have a presence across Africa's Sahel region and in Burkina Faso as well as in Libya, according to a report by the Warsaw-based Centre for Eastern Studies.

"The military juntas that have seized power in many countries of the Sahel region in recent years see Russia as a protector in both the domestic and international arenas, and are keen to cooperate with it in the field of defence," the report said.

That makes attacking the Russian presence in Africa a way of combating the Kremlin's reach abroad.

“The Russian terrorist network of so-called military companies on the territory of the African continent continues to work and engage in illegal activities and support for local terrorist groups,” Yusov said.

He added: “Everything that Ukraine does [abroad] is done within the framework of international law and in cooperation with local governments and our international partners."

Ukrainian special services like HUR and the SBU intelligence agency have been playing an active part in non-conventional warfare, hitting Russia where it hurts the most, SBU Head Vasyl Malyuk said on Sunday.  

Africa is seen by Kyiv as one of those pain points.

In September CNN reported HUR was likely behind strikes on Wagner-backed forces in Sudan that launched a coup in April 2023.

Wagner was badly mauled by Ukrainian forces in the battle for control of the eastern city of Bakhmut — prompting its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, to launch his aborted drive toward Moscow last June.

Many Wagner mercenaries were sent to Africa in the wake of the battle for Bakhmut, and Prigozhin himself also showed up there before being killed in an airplane crash widely blamed on the Russian government.