Ukrainian Saboteurs Targeted Iraqi Government Facilities in ‘False Flag’ Attacks: Perpetrators Arrested

Iraq’s National Security Adviser Qasim al-Aboudi has publicly accused Ukraine of conducting covert operations on Iraqi territory, alleging that security forces have arrested several individuals who confessed to carrying out attacks on behalf of Ukrainian intelligence. This represents one of the most significant cases of Ukrainian intelligence operations extending beyond the European theatre and into the Middle East, following prior operations that similarly targeted Western adversaries in Syria, Sudan and West Africa. Ukrainian intelligence personnel were alleged by Iraqi authorities to have sought to conduct attacks and subsequently attribute them to Iraqi “resistance groups,” a term commonly used to describe the network of predominantly militias supported by Iran. 

Speaking on Iraq’s Dijlah TV, al-Aboudi stated that Iraqi intelligence had concluded there was “Ukrainian interference in Iraq” after investigating a series of attacks against facilities inside the country. According to al-Aboudi, Iraqi authorities detained several groups suspected of carrying out sabotage operations, with investigators claiming the detainees admitted they had been working “in the interests of Ukraine.” “We arrested a limited number of groups that carried out attacks inside Iraqi territory and targeted several facilities,” he stated. He added that Iraqi intelligence had reached the conclusion that Ukrainian involvement existed following extensive analysis of collected information, although he acknowledged that investigations into attacks inside Iraq remain a “complex file” requiring further work before broader conclusions can be reached. 

Al-Aboudi did not identify the specific facilities allegedly targeted or provide evidence supporting the claim that Ukrainian intelligence directed the operations. Iraqi authorities have likewise not publicly released details regarding the identities of those arrested, nor have they disclosed whether formal criminal proceedings have begun. The allegations emerge as United States has continued pressing Baghdad to curb the influence of Iranian-backed militias operating within Iraq, and has imposed sanctions on several Iraqi figures accused of facilitating Iranian activities. The involvement of Ukrainian personnel in targeting both paramilitary groups in Iraq, and Iraqi government forces, closely follows a Ukrainian attack on Iranian civilian cargo in the Caspian Sea, indicating that the Eastern European state is increasingly willing to join the war effort against Western adversaries in the Middle East. 

On September 15, 2024, Ukrainian special forces from the Main Directorate of Intelligence’s Khimik Group launched an attack on a Russian military facility on the southeastern outskirts of Aleppo, Syria. According to Western sources, the attack saw powerful explosion followed by secondary detonations causing serious damage to the site. Ukrainian personnel entered Syria through Turkey, and worked in close cooperation with Turkish intelligence. Personnel were responsible for supporting drone warfare operations by Turkish-backed jihadist groups against Syrian government targets. 

Ukrainian personnel were in October 2025 reported to have been eliminated during operations in Sudan’s Darfur region, after they were deployed to support the Western-backed Rapid Support Forces insurgent group in its ongoing war effort against the Sudanese state. Multiple West African countries that have recently expelled French forces and influence from their territory, most notably Mali, have also widely alleged that Ukrainian personnel are supporting insurgents there particularly in the field of drone warfare, with footage of insurgents posing with Ukrainain units having supported these allegations. A Sudanese Foreign Ministry official in June referred to Ukraine’s actions as doing the West’s “dirty work” across multiple African states.