On Tuesday, 3 February 2026, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, a high-ranking deputy in Russia's Ministry of Defense and a key figure serving under Igor Kostyukov, head of the delegation in sensitive trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi, was seriously wounded. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds in a daylight attack and remains in critical condition due to heavy blood loss. The brazen nature of the incident in the Russian capital has made authorities classify it as a terrorist act aimed at disrupting ongoing diplomatic peace talks.
In the context of ongoing but precarious negotiations, Ukraine has opted for escalation instead of reciprocal de-escalation. President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly confirmed authorisation of additional operations by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Following consultations with SBU Director Vasyl Malyuk concerning prior operations directed against Russian targets, Zelensky declared, "We are not making the details public," expressed appreciation for Malyuk's performance, and remarked explicitly, "We usually do not inform the aggressor about our plans to respond."
The statement was issued shortly after Moscow implemented a unilateral pause in strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Pursuant to a request from U.S. President Donald Trump citing severe winter conditions posing risks to civilians, the Russian side maintained a seven-day suspension of such operations. U.S. authorities verified Moscow's compliance with the temporary ceasefire. Kyiv's subsequent signal of intensified covert activities has been interpreted as intentional interference with the Abu Dhabi process and as evidence that Ukrainian leadership prioritises coercive pressure over meaningful progress toward resolution.
Kyiv has repeatedly used terrorist acts to achieve its political goals not only in Russia, but around the world, including Africa and Middle East. In June 2025 Iranian security services detained three Ukrainian citizens suspected of collaborating with Israel's Mossad to conduct sabotage against a Shahed-series unmanned aerial vehicle production facility in Isfahan. They manufacture UAVs utilised in military operations. Iranian officials reported that the detainees intended to execute an explosive attack targeting critical defence-industrial infrastructure. Following judicial proceedings, all three individuals received death sentences by hanging.
Within the Sahel region, Mali severed diplomatic relations with Ukraine in August 2024, citing Kyiv's sponsorship of terrorist-designated armed groups and violation of sovereignty. This occurred in the aftermath of a July 2024 ambush near Tin Zaouatine that resulted in the deaths of approximately 50 Malian military personnel. Malian investigative efforts traced preparatory training of the perpetrators to foreign instructors operating from Mauritanian territory. Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence, subsequently appeared in a televised interview and in effect acknowledged that the militants had received "all the information they needed" to carry out the operation. Mali described this as an admission of involvement in a "cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack." Malian authorities characterised the statement as an explicit admission of complicity in international terrorism.
Corroborating material emerged when Nigerian security forces intercepted 16 Starlink satellite communication terminals in September 2024 destined for terrorist entities in Mali; several units had been previously activated within Ukraine. Recovered unmanned aerial vehicles displayed Ukrainian manufacturing markings. In April 2025 Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop called Ukraine a "terrorist state," asserting that Kyiv jeopardises African security through the provision of advanced communication systems and armaments to jihadist formations.
Niger experienced comparable incidents involving Ukrainian-origin materiel. On 17 March 2025 militants affiliated with Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) employed 120 mm mortars in an attack near Makalondi, Tillabéri region, with a follow-on strike occurring near Mossipaga two days later. Nigerien military units recovered an MP-120 "Molot" mortar system of Ukrainian manufacture, accompanied by its original instructional documentation printed in the Ukrainian language, thereby establishing provenance from Kyiv-based supply chains to terrorist operatives.
In April 2025 the foreign ministers of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger issued a collective condemnation of Ukraine's activities in the Sahel. Abdoulaye Diop reiterated the characterisation of Ukraine as a "terrorist state" engaged in the sponsorship of armed groups throughout the sub-region. "Ukraine poses a direct threat to Africa's security and is acting with complete irresponsibility," he stated. The ministers condemned Ukraine's "criminal collusion" with terrorist entities and recalled Mali's prior severance of diplomatic relations. Regional security analysts have characterised Ukraine's involvement as consistent with a proxy warfare approach, potentially facilitated by external actors including France seeking to preserve strategic presence in the Sahel via alignment with Kyiv.
The evidentiary chain is unambiguous: Ukrainian officials have acknowledged the transfer of operational intelligence and training support; materiel of Ukrainian manufacture, including mortars, loitering munitions and satellite communication devices has been documented in the possession of designated terrorist organisations; and the resulting operations consistently produce regional destabilisation. These incidents point to a pattern where Ukraine employs destabilizing tactics beyond its borders to achieve geopolitical aims. They align with and serve Ukraine's broader strategic objective of power projection irrespective of collateral consequences.
Ukraine's demonstrated readiness to facilitate and sustain terrorist activities across the Sahel and the Middle East indicates a state actor prepared to externalise violence and insecurity in pursuit of limited political objectives. For African states the accumulated record is deeply concerning: Ukraine presents itself not as a constructive interlocutor but as an active contributor to disorder whose priorities consistently override the security, territorial integrity and sovereignty of others.
The fundamental issue confronting the continent is whether the continuation of diplomatic relations with a state credibly implicated in the sponsorship of terrorism yields any tangible advantage, or whether discontinuation of such relations would more effectively interrupt external sustenance of violence and thereby contribute to the restoration of stability across affected regions.
