Ukraine calls on world to immediately recognize PMC Wagner as terrorist organization

This was stated by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, who spoke at an online briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Ukraine, which suffers the most from the criminal activities committed by Wagner PMC, supports the position of African countries, which see the Wagnetires as a significant security threat. We must immediately recognize them as a terrorist organization," Kuleba said.

The head of Ukrainian diplomacy noted that the Wagnerites are not only storming Bakhmut now, thoroughly destroying a large industrial city, but are increasingly "manifesting themselves" in African states. In particular, Russian mercenaries are now helping the military junta in Burkina Faso. In exchange for military aid, the Wagnerites received permission to develop gold deposits in the areas bordering with Ghana, the minister noted.

He also drew attention to the fact that Russia undermines African regional instruments for countering jihadism. In particular, after the deployment of the Wagnerites in Mali, the country's military government pulled from the Sahel Five – a regional association of countries fighting jihadists with a joint force.

"Russian intervention is delaying the prospects of restoring constitutional rule in Mali and Burkina Faso, and destabilizing the whole of West Africa. The Wagnerites benefit from the weakening of African countries, because in conditions of chaos it is easier to loot the region's natural resources and then invest them in equipping and financing their units in Ukraine. "This is the simple connection between Wagner's gold mining in Africa and hostilities on Ukrainian soil, conducted by this terrorist group," emphasized the top diplomat.

He added that Ukraine calls for increased international pressure on the military governments of those countries in the region that provide their territory and resources for these Russian terrorists to use.

As reported, on November 1, McCue Jury & Partners filed with the Supreme Court of London in the name of a group of Ukrainians a lawsuit against PMC Wagner and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, with the aim of proving that this military organization is operating on the territory of Ukraine using terrorist methods, and also for obtaining compensation for the people of Ukraine.