Ukraine

EXCLUSIVE: Ukrainian Special Forces Interrogate Wagner Mercenaries in Sudan

Exclusive video obtained by Kyiv Post shows Ukrainian special forces interrogating captured Russian mercenaries from the Wagner “Private Military Company” (PMC) in the Republic of Sudan.

Kyiv Post sources in Ukraine’s special services provided an exclusive video that shows elements of Ukrainian special forces interrogating captured Wagner mercenaries in the Republic of Sudan.

In one part of the video special forces operators from the combat group Timur, part of Ukraine's Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR), are seen examining military vehicles, one truck shows signs of intense weapon strikes through the windshield and the body of a soldier, sporting the Wagner PMC badge, in the passenger seat.

Later footage shows a Ukrainian operator interrogating a Russian-speaking prisoner. He confesses to being part of a group of Wagner PMC mercenaries that were sent to Sudan to overthrow the local government, in the video.

“What's your rank?” the Ukrainian fighter asks.

“Soldier,” the mercenary replies.

“Your unit?”

“PMC Wagner.”

“How did you get here to Sudan?” he is asked.

“We drove through Central African Republic (CAR) to Khartoum,” the mercenary replies.

“What was the goal?”

“To overthrow the local government,” comes the reply.

“How many of you are here?”

“100 people.”

Additionally, two African prisoners, presumably locally recruited by the Wagner mercenaries, are interrogated alongside the Russian-speaking soldier.

Ukrainian special forces have, according to open sources, been operating in the Republic of Sudan for several months at least.

Previously, a video surfaced showing Ukrainian drones taking out “Russian mercenaries” and their “local terrorist partners” in Sudan.

Filmed in “recent weeks” in an undisclosed part of the African country, the footage shows three separate strikes against three different vehicles.

Kyiv Post sources inside the special services of Ukraine, said: “The work on the destruction of Russian mercenaries and their local terrorist partners in Sudan is likely by Ukrainian special forces…Work we have planned [in Sudan] is being performed.”

In November 2023 Kyiv Post obtained two videos purporting to show Ukrainian special forces operators hunting mercenaries in the country.

A spokesperson for HUR, typically neither confirm nor deny the deployment of Ukrainian servicemen in foreign territories, including the Republic of Sudan.

Why are Ukrainian forces operating in Sudan?

In May 2023 HUR Chief Kyrylo Budanov vowed to “destroy Russian war criminals anywhere in the world, wherever they are.” An ongoing, state-sponsored campaign by Ukrainian overseas special operators to hunt down Wagner employees deployed to Sudan would be consistent with Budanov’s promise.

Russia, along with the Wagner Group, was directly involved in the coup in Sudan in 2019, supporting Hemedti and his fighters in the conflict and supplying weapons. Wagner also delivered surface-to-air missiles to the Sudanese Rapid Reaction Force (RSF).

A senior Sudanese source told CNN in 2023 that about 90 percent of RSF weapons came from Wagner. That supply channel is still open despite the deaths of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his deputy Dmitry Utkin in a plane crash in Russia, the source said.

In September, President Zelensky said he'd held an impromptu meeting with the head of the Sudanese Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, while travelling through Ireland's Shannon airport.

“We discussed our common security challenges, namely the activities of illegal armed groups financed by Russia,” Zelensky said in a post on social media.

Found an archival link.