Sudan's foreign minister says his government has "conclusive" evidence that Ukrainian snipers and trainers are helping the RSF and has lodged it with the UN Security Council. Ukraine's foreign ministry has rejected the allegation.
Sudan's Foreign Minister Mohieldin Salem has accused Ukraine of supplying snipers and trainers to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), saying Ukrainian personnel have been teaching the paramilitary group to use drones against civilian facilities. He made the claims in an interview with Sputnik Africa published on 30 October, while in Moscow for the Russia–Africa summit.
Salem said Sudan had "conclusive" material evidence, that some Ukrainian fighters had been captured or killed, and that weapons linked to them had been seized. He said the evidence had been placed on the record of the UN Security Council through Sudan's permanent representative in New York, Sudan Tribune reported.
The minister also said a Sudanese delegation had given the United States evidence last year of American weapons that had leaked from Ukraine and other areas being used by the RSF. According to Sputnik, he said some Gulf states were financing the group, and urged the international community to support Sudan's "legitimate national institutions", including the army.
Kyiv rejects the allegations
Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, on 31 October denied that Ukrainian experts, snipers or military drone trainers were taking part in the fighting alongside the RSF, and denied that any had been arrested with weapons, the Sudanese outlet Nabd Al-Sudan reported. CERHA has not seen the evidence Sudan says it has submitted, and the claims have not been independently verified.
A Moscow platform
The allegations were made to Russian state media during a summit at which army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan sought a strategic partnership with Russia. On 1 November Russia's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Anna Evstigneeva, told RIA Novosti that African governments were "well aware" that Kyiv trains militants on the continent, citing Salem's remarks and earlier statements by Mali's foreign minister.
Analysis: Sudan's war has drawn in a wide range of foreign actors, and the UN Fact-Finding Mission has warned that external support networks are fuelling the conflict. But the timing and venue of these claims, made to Russian media in Moscow and quickly amplified by Russian diplomats, places them squarely within the Russia–Ukraine information contest. The claims will carry weight only if Port Sudan makes the evidence it says it holds available for independent scrutiny, for example by the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan.
The accusation adds to a widening list of governments Port Sudan blames for the RSF's resilience. In recent days it has accused Ethiopia of allowing drones to be launched from its territory, and Defence Minister Hassan Daoud Kabroun has said more than 20 countries are supporting the RSF, Radio Dabanga reported.
Photo: Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs building in Kyiv, 2018. Andrew Milligan sumo, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.