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Ukrainian partisans claim Wagner mercenaries trained Hamas fighters in assault tactics and the use of small UAVs in the deployment of explosive weapons.
Elements of the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner are alleged to have participated in the training of Hamas militants, the Ukrainian Center of National Resistance (CNR) reports.
“The Center of National Resistance thanks the Belarusian underground for the information about the enemy,” its message reads.
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According to the CNR, the primary fields of training given to Hamas fighters included assault tactics and the use of small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to drop explosive devices on to vehicles and other targets, a technique documented during Hamas’s assault on Israel over the weekend.
The CNR underlined the view that among Hamas’s allies, only Russia possess experience in the use of drones equipped with the means to deploy explosive devices onto enemy targets.
Gaza factions have released a video of a drone dropping a grenade on an Israeli Merkava tank near the Israel/Gaza border and starting a fire.pic.twitter.com/MqUIRxZkS4
— Kyle Glen (@KyleJGlen)October 7, 2023
Ukrainian partisans claim that during exercises in African countries, Wagner PMC members provided UAVs to Hamas militants.
Kyiv Post sought additional information from its sources within the Ukrainian partisan movement, but the source responded: “This is all the information we can release at this time.”
Kyiv Post also reached out to Ukrainian intelligence agencies for comment, to which the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (HUR) replied: “This information is currently being clarified.”
In late September, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated that the continued presence of Wagner PMC fighters in Africa remains significant.
“Wagner still has a substantial presence on the continent,” Austin told reporters during a visit to Djibouti.
Austin noted that the US had not observed any significant changes in the group's relations with the Kremlin or any signs of Moscow taking control of the group's operations across Africa.
He suggested that in the future, there may be internal competition for leadership within PMC ranks and emphasized that maintaining a presence in Africa without Russian support might prove challenging for the mercenaries in the medium to long term.
The Times of Israel has reported, citing unconfirmed local media sources, that the number of Israeli casualties in the Hamas attack and subsequent fighting has risen to 800, making it Israel's largest loss of life since the 1973 Arab-Israeli war.
Simultaneously, Israel's Ministry of Health disclosed that as of this afternoon, 2,506 individuals have been hospitalized with injuries, including 23 in life-threatening condition and 353 with severe injuries.
Julia Struck is a Deputy Head of News and correspondent forKyiv Post who has previously worked as a parliamentary editor, journalist, and news editor. She has specialized in covering the work of the Ukrainian parliament, government, and law enforcement agencies.
