(Dan Tri) – Ukraine said that the Russian private military company Wagner may have trained the Palestinian armed force Hamas, but did not provide specific evidence for this claim.
Members of the private military company Wagner (Illustration photo: Reuters).
The National Center of Resistance of Ukraine (CNR) quoted sources from `underground forces` in Belarus as saying that members of Wagner may have participated in the training process of soldiers of Hamas forces.
CNR was established in March 2022 after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and is under the management of the Ukrainian armed forces.
CNR did not specify who the `undercover force` they were referring to was.
In the attack on Israel last weekend, Hamas used UAVs to destroy Israeli tanks and armor.
Meanwhile, Kyiv Post cited sources from Ukrainian guerrilla force groups saying that during exercises in Africa, Wagner may have provided UAVs to Hamas.
On the other hand, the General Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said that they are clarifying the information that the country’s media reported regarding the relationship between Wagner and Hamas.
Early on the morning of October 7, Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip fired thousands of rockets into Israel.
Israel is almost passive in the face of Hamas’s wave of attacks even though the country is considered to have outstanding ability to monitor communications in the Gaza Strip.
The fighting between the two sides is still fierce, causing heavy damage to people and property in Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Army Radio reported on October 9 that at least 900 people were killed in Hamas attacks on Israel, while in Gaza, at least 560 people were killed.
After the failed rebellion at the end of June, Wagner transferred his forces to Belarus – a close ally of Russia.
It is currently unclear what Wagner’s purpose and mission will be when returning to the Ukrainian battlefield, but according to experts, Wagner’s units may be tasked with taking control of the city of Avdiivka on the Eastern front.
On the other hand, the US said late last month that it had not seen Wagner forces withdraw from Africa `in significant numbers` after the death of leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in August in a plane crash.
The number of Wagner members across Africa, concentrated mainly in the Central African Republic, Mali and Libya, remains `fairly stable,` a US defense official said.
