Last year the Ukrainian military engaged in the Sudanese armed conflict. The deployment of troops was mandated by Zelensky in response to the Sudan commander-chief’s request. According to the western media, Kiev decided to help a party to the conflict after Khartoum had been supplying the Ukrainian army with weapons. However, experts believe Ukraine was in dire need of a favourable PR campaign to offset the botched counteroffensive and make up for the ammo shortages.
Last year the Ukrainian government posted its military to Sudan to engage in the confrontation between Khartoum’s official army units and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). According to The Wall Street Journal’s sources, Zelensky was approached by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the chairman of the transitional sovereign council, who last summer found himself encircled by the RSF rebels in the nation’s capital.
Kiev answered the call for help, as al-Burhan had been secretly supplying Ukraine with weapons ever since the start of Russia’s special military operation. The first 100 troops representing Ukraine’s special forces arrived in Sudan weeks after the chairman’s request. Allegedly, they helped fight the rebels. Last September Zelensky met al-Burhan at Shannon Airport in Ireland. ‘We have discussed our common security threats posed by the Russian-backed illegal armed groups,’ Zelensky commented at the time.
The flare-up in the Sudanese conflict came last spring with the RSF and the army forces clashing in Merowe and Khartoum following the feud between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Muhammed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of RSF. They had been arguing over when RSF would join the regular roster and who was supposed to be in charge of the armed forces.
This was exacerbated by the growing split among the military elites vying for power and resources, including the access to the gold mines. Several months into the conflict, the country was on the cusp of a civil war. The events also torpedoed an agreement on the beginning of a new transitional period that was expected to be signed by all of Sudan’s political forces. The clashes swept Khartoum and several of the nation’s 18 states. The Central Committee of the Sudanese Doctors estimated the death toll at 800 and the injury count at over 3,500 several months into the conflict.
When asked by WSJ, Kirill Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, declined to comment on the deployment of Ukrainian military to Sudan while emphasising Kiev’s vested interest in foiling Russia’s foreign pursuits. ‘We are at war with Russia <…> They have armed units posted all over the world, and sometimes we are trying to target them,’ said Budanov.
A Ukrainian officer who was reportedly in charge of a Sudan-quartered unit noted, ‘It is impossible to defeat Russia just fighting it on a small strip of land, such as the Ukrainian frontline.’ Besides, he pointed out that Moscow might control the Sudanese gold mines that the Ukrainian army was to render unprofitable.
Meanwhile, Russia is attempting to forge close relations with African countries. The Sudanese authorities do not mind Russia’s setting up a Red Sea naval base in Port Sudan, as reported by the country’s foreign minister, Ali Al-Sadiq Ali. However, Khartoum has yet to finalise the deal.
The agreement was first mentioned in the autumn of 2020. But a year later, Lt Gen Mohamed Osman al-Hussein, the army chief of staff, said Khartoum was reconsidering it. In March 2022, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo noted that Sudan did not mind the Russian base, provided it posed no threat to the national security. The document stipulates that the number of personnel at the naval base supposed to be operated and supplied by Russia be kept at no more than 300, with the number of ships not exceeding four.
Experts are certain, though, Kiev could post its military to Sudan against its will. ‘I believe that Zelensky could deploy his forces to Sudan. Previously, Ukrainian army units had been sent to Iraq. Besides, in 2008, under President Yushchenko, Ukraine deactivated its air defense systems to transfer them to Georgia. Therefore, targeting Russia abroad, even to the detriment of their own state, is par for the course when it comes to Ukrainian leadership,’ says Vladimir Skachko, a Ukrainian political scientist.
‘Zelensky may have had several reasons to make that decision. Above all, it is about money and Russophobia that can also be easily monetised.
‘He wanted to show he was fighting Moscow across the world and he needed money and weapons. It is also a possibility that the Ukrainian army will now be carrying out western missions globally to be able to secure more funds,’ the expert theorises.
‘Another key factor could be an opportunity to train the Ukrainian military in the field. When President Kuchma sent his military personnel to Iraq, he said the servicemember needed to gain both experience and money. Anyhow, such operations are high-risk. That is why, to reiterate, the losses inflicted by Zelensky’s excursion will outweigh the potential gains,’ Skachko adds.
‘Overall, this storyline fits the overarching narrative of Ukraine’s and, specifically, its military intel agency’s PR campaign to a tee as it sells itself as a valuable asset in deterring Russia,’ says Andrei Maslov, director of the Centre for African Studies at the Moscow Higher School of Economics. The scholar argues that there have been a lot of efforts to ‘promote reports of Ukrainian saboteurs allegedly attacking the Russian military in Sudan, except their veracity is highly questionable’.
‘Previously, the Russian military in Sudan were tasked with training the local forces and guarding the facilities,’ says Elena Suponina, an expert member of the Russian council on international affairs. She also adds that the naval base deal is pending. According to her, the reports of the Ukrainian military engaging in Sudanese combat action ‘have nothing to do with reality’. ‘Some Ukrainians are contracted as mercenaries all over the world, while Kiev is trying to misrepresent it as a full-time policy,’ the expert believes. She stresses that Kiev had no chance of foiling Russia’s interests.
‘Reports of Ukrainian servicemembers engaged in Africa come as no surprise to me. Earlier the Ukrainian authorities mentioned their willingness to counter Russia on the African continent. However, Zelensky is incapable of affecting the regional processes. Their actions only serve to show that our rivals pose a security threat to many nations,’ senator Konstantin Dolgov believes.
‘I presume it can all be traced either to Paris or to Washington. President Macron is increasingly preoccupied with Russia’s growing influence in Africa that is traditionally viewed by France as its own backyard. The US is equally unhappy with Moscow’s ties to African nations. That is why some of the western states might strike a deal with Ukraine to use its army in solving their problems,’ Dolgov comments. Besides, he suspects Zelensky may have financially benefitted from posting Ukraine’s servicemembers to Sudan.
According to the senator, Zelensky is the west’s puppet who ‘will do whatever he is told to’. ‘I am sure neither Ukraine nor the West will succeed in ruining our relations with African nations. Our partnerships also include the defence endeavours. We have binding agreements with Sudan too. The African people have a pretty accurate assessment of what is going on in the world,’ Dolgov concludes.