[Source: Reuters]

On Africa’s dry western tip, Mauritania has become an unlikely staging post for Ukraine’s increasingly global struggle with its adversary Russia.

Kyiv’s new embassy in the country’s capital Nouakchott – among eight it has opened in Africa since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine – has overseen food aid deliveries to refugees from neighbouring Mali, embassy and aid officials say.

Kyiv is also offering to train Mauritanian soldiers, Ukraine’s top envoy to Africa told Reuters, amid tension between Mauritania and Mali, where Moscow backs government forces against Tuareg rebels.

Moscow’s soldiers and mercenaries guard presidents in several West and Central African countries, while Russian mining companies are entrenched in the Sahel region that includes Mali.

Russia’s military presence in the Sahel “undermined stability”, the envoy, Maksym Subkh said in an interview in Kyiv.

“Ukraine is ready to continue training officers and representatives of the Mauritanian armed forces, to share the technologies and achievements that Ukraine has made” on the battlefield against

Russia, Subkh said, adding that Ukraine had previously provided such training prior to Russia’s invasion.

The Mauritanian government did not respond to a request for comment about Ukraine’s offer of more training.

Russia’s embassy in Mauritania did not respond to a request for comment.

Earlier in June, the Kremlin said Russia would increase cooperation with African countries including in sensitive areas such as defence.

Russia is the largest weapons supplier to Africa, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Reuters’ interviews with four senior Ukrainian officials, two aid officials and Western diplomats and analysts for this story, along with access to new missions in Mauritania and Democratic Republic of Congo, reveal new details about Kyiv’s Africa strategy including the deliveries of aid to Malian refugees, the proposal to train Mauritania’s military, and the broader bid to counter Russia’s much more entrenched presence.

Early in the Ukraine war, many African countries declined to take Kyiv’s side at the United Nations, even after Russia’s bombing of Ukraine’s ports drove up prices on the continent as exports of food and fertiliser were curtailed.

Months later, Ukraine produced its first Africa strategy, a public document.

The stated goals were to counter Russia’s narrative and increase trade and investment on a continent that remembers Russian support in the Cold War and Moscow’s stance against apartheid.

Subkh was appointed to lead the effort, and Kyiv has since opened eight out of 10 new embassies announced in 2022, he said, bringing to 18 the number of missions Ukraine has in Africa.

Host countries include Ivory Coast and Congo, which condemned Russia’s invasion early on.

Kyiv plans to open an embassy this year in Sudan, where Russia is accused by the U.S. of arming both sides in a brutal conflict.

Russia denies a role there.

However, Kyiv cannot match an opponent with deep commercial and security ties, including a long-standing presence of Moscow’s intelligence agencies. In total, Russia has around 40 missions in Africa, and recently announced plans to open seven more.

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