Niger's ruling military junta has announced it is breaking off diplomatic relations with Ukraine, becoming the second African state to sever ties with Kyiv following comments by a Ukrainian official perceived as lending support to rebels in neighboring Mali.
The move comes as Russia continues to expand its influence in the Sahel region by supporting military regimes confronted with separatist and Islamist rebellions.
Ukraine has yet to comment on Niger's move, which comes after Mali's military rulers on August 4 also cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine over its alleged involvement -- which Kyiv denies -- in an attack by rebels that resulted in the killing of dozens of Malian soldiers and Russian mercenaries.
"The Government of the Republic of Niger, in full solidarity with the Government and people of Mali, has decided, relying on its sovereignty, to sever diplomatic relations between the Republic of Niger and Ukraine. This decision comes into force immediately," government spokesman Abdourahamane Amadou said late on August 6 in a televised address.
Armed groups in Mali's predominantly Tuareg north said they killed at least 47 government soldiers and 84 Russian Wagner mercenaries in fighting last month near the West African country's border with Algeria.
The losses incurred by Wagner fighters arguably amounted to the heaviest defeat the Russian mercenary group has suffered in the two years since it began to give military assistance to the Bamako regime.
Without directly confirming Kyiv's involvement, Andrey Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine's Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), told Ukrainian public television that the rebels "received all the necessary information they needed" to defeat the Russian mercenaries fighting alongside Malian troops.
Yusov's comments prompted Mali's military government to sever ties with Ukraine and accuse Kyiv of supporting terrorism and violating Mali's sovereignty.
Kyiv, whose troops fought fierce battles against Wagner mercenaries in eastern Ukraine, strongly rejected Mali's move, calling it "short-sighted and hasty given that Ukraine is a victim of unprovoked full-scale armed aggression by the Russian Federation."
"Ukraine unconditionally adheres to the norms of international law, the inviolability of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries, and resolutely rejects the accusations of the Transitional Government of Mali of alleged support of international terrorism," the ministry said in a statement on August 5.
Russia has been offering regime protection and other services to authoritarian governments in Africa and has recently expanded into Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger as military coups sweep through the Sahel.
On August 6, some 40 people were arrested in Nigeria's north, which borders Niger, for waving Russian flags during protests against the high cost of living and government policies.
On August 5, the United States handed over Airbase 201 in Agadez, its last military base in Niger, to local authorities, the U.S. Department of Defense and Niger’s Ministry of Defense announced in a joint statement.
The handing over of Airbase 201 came after U.S. troops withdrew earlier this month from Airbase 101, in Niger’s capital of Niamey.
The closing of the two bases, which played a major role in U.S. counterterrorism operations in the region, came after Washington and Nigerien authorities agreed that U.S. troops will leave the country by September 15.
Wagner was previously involved in some of the fiercest fighting of Russia's war in Ukraine, but its fate was put into question when founder Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash in August 2023, two months after leading a brief mutiny against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Wagner mercenaries who did not sign contracts with Russia's Defense Ministry after the mutiny are believed to have moved to Africa.