Khartoum, Mar 6 (Representative) The Sudanese sovereignty council had secretly supplied arms to Kiev since the start of Russia’s special military operation, and the latter has returned the debt by sending troops to help the Sudanese regular army in its conflict with rebels, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing Ukrainian and Sudanese military officials. “We took a lot of weapons out of Sudan at one time. Different countries paid for it… They had a wide range of weapons. You can find everything from Chinese to American weapons there,” Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov told The Wall Street Journal. This military aid prompted Kiev to help Khartoum in summer 2023, when Sudanese sovereignty council head Abdel Fattah al-Burhan was besieged by the rebel forces and called for help from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the newspaper reported. In mid-August, the request was granted: Ukrainian special forces landed in Sudan and started fighting to drive the rebel forces out of the capital, the report said.
In his interview with the newspaper, Budanov refused to comment on the Ukrainian forces’ presence in Sudan but explained the rationale behind the idea of sending troops abroad by citing the fact that Russia allegedly has “units in different parts of the world.” A Ukrainian officer with the sign name Prada also told the Wall Street Journal that “it’s impossible to overcome Russia simply by fighting on a small piece of land, like the front line in Ukraine.” In April 2023, violent clashes broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group. The parties to the conflict have since introduced a number of temporary nationwide ceasefires, but none have helped settle the conflict. In late October, the parties resumed negotiations, mediated by Saudi Arabia in Jeddah, but hostilities in the country continue. The Kremlin has consistently warned against continued arms deliveries to Kiev since the start of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, saying it would lead to further escalation of the conflict. In April 2022, Russia sent a diplomatic note to all NATO countries on the issue of arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russian strikes.