Posted on 09/13/2026 9:37:31 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
An elite group of Ukrainian drone operators is hunting Russians from desert dugouts across Africa, as Kyiv wages a proxy war to bleed strongman Vladimir Putin’s global army.
Moscow has deployed about 5,000 troops across Mali, Sudan and Libya to back coup-installed military dictatorships and warlords since 2020 — as Putin has tried to fill the void left by Western forces’ withdrawal and assert himself as a power player — often in exchange for lucrative mining rights.
And Ukraine has worked alongside local rebels to fight off those same Russians forces in an effort to forge new alliances against Moscow.
“I coordinate their operations remotely,” one of the Ukrainian drone operators in Mali told CNN of their efforts to help a local separatist group.
“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.”
Hunting Russians with drone warfare is something Ukrainian forces spent years crafting in the motherland once Putin launched his invasion in 2022 — and the proxy war is part of Kyiv’s strategy to move the needle at home by collapsing its enemy elsewhere.
Fifteen Ukrainian drone operators are embedded with the Azawad Liberation Front rebel group in Mali, fighting back more than 2,000 Russian troops in the desert propping up the military junta of Gen. Assimi Goïta, who seized power in back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021 — and has since ruled without elections.
“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.
Ukraine has also trained troops from Chad, Niger and Burkina Faso, who traveled to Mali to learn from the...
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Massive Attack - A Winter Warning & Arming African 'Rebels' Will Backfire
Ukrainian drone operators embedded with the “Azawad Liberation Front” are they CIA, MI6, Mossad or all of the above.
I just can’t stop laughing at that name.
The keyword is "proxy."
Just as in Ukraine, the USA/UK/NATO are the men behind the curtain to whom we are to pay no attention.
Excellent.
More power to them!
Regards,
Wrong. It is Russia that has been training and equipping terrorists. They’re the same jerks who had their pet Cubans running Venezuela’s cocaine distribution from Maduro’s office and sinking their teeth into a bunch of strategic mineral reserves in that country too. Cuba by the way is and has been a Russian training ground for Arab and African terrorists thought the cold war — recall all their meddling in Angola.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.