Niger's ruling military junta announced it was severing diplomatic ties with Ukraine, becoming the second African country to cut ties with Kiev after comments by a Ukrainian official seen as support for rebels in neighboring Mali.
The move comes as Russia continues to expand its influence in the Sahel region by propping up military regimes facing separatist and Islamist insurgencies.
Ukraine has yet to comment on Niger's move, which comes after Mali's military chiefs also severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine on August 4 over its alleged involvement, which Kiev denies, in a rebel attack that left dozens of Malian soldiers and Russian mercenaries dead.
"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 is effective immediately," government spokesman Abdourahamane Amadou said on August 6. .
Armed groups in northern Mali 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 suffered by Wagner's fighters represent the heaviest defeat the Russian mercenary group has suffered in the two years since it began providing military aid to the regime in Bamako.
Without official confirmation of Kiev's involvement, Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) spokesman Andriy Yusov said the rebels "received all the necessary information they needed" to defeat Russian mercenaries fighting alongside Malian troops.
Yusov's comments prompted Mali's military government to cut ties with Ukraine and accuse Kiev of supporting terrorism and violating Mali's sovereignty.
Kiev, whose troops have been fighting fierce battles against Wagner's mercenaries in eastern Ukraine, strongly rejected Mali's move, calling it "short-sighted and hasty given that Ukraine is the victim of an unprovoked, full-scale armed aggression by the Russian Federation."
"Ukraine unconditionally adheres to the norms of international law, the inviolability of sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries and resolutely rejects the accusations of the transitional government of Mali on the alleged support of international terrorism," the ministry announced on August 5.
Russia offers regime protection and other services to authoritarian governments in Africa, and has recently expanded to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as military regimes rampage through the Sahel.
About 40 people were arrested on August 6 in northern Nigeria, 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 Air Base 201 in Agadez, its last military base in Niger, to local authorities, the US Department of Defense and Niger's Ministry of Defense announced in a joint statement.
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