Half of Kiev's rebels are ambushed by Russian mercenaries?
In the north of Mali, a group of Russian mercenaries from Wagner was ambushed. After the skirmish, the victorious rebels displayed a Ukrainian flag. Kyiv's military intelligence reports that the insurgents were provided with information for the military operation.
The Ukrainian newspaper "Kyiv Post" published a photo showing Tuareg rebels in Mali posing with a Ukrainian flag. The image was taken after the rebels inflicted a heavy defeat on the Russian mercenary group Wagner in the north of the country. Meanwhile, a representative of Ukraine's military intelligence service HUR in Kyiv stated that the rebels "received the necessary information to conduct a successful operation against the Wagner group. "We will not speak about the details at this time, but we will continue," HUR press secretary Andrij Jussow told the Ukrainian broadcaster Suspilne.
Regarding the alleged proposal by the Malian rebel movement CSP-PSD to hand over captured Wagner mercenaries to Ukraine, Jussow said they would verify the information. However, everything Ukraine does is in accordance with international law. On Sunday, a post appeared on the X platform, supposedly from the CSP-PSD, offering to deliver the captured Wagner fighters to Kyiv.
Three of us remain
The CSP-PSD stated on Saturday that they had captured armored vehicles, trucks, and fuel tankers, and killed and injured dozens of soldiers and Wagner mercenaries during battles at the border with Algeria on Thursday and Friday. Wagner has confirmed the death of its fighters. Several Wagner-linked Telegram channels published a statement saying that a unit of Russian mercenaries, together with Malian soldiers, repelled a rebel attack near the city of Tinzaouaten. A sandstorm then allowed the rebels to regroup and set an ambush, resulting in heavy losses. Among the fallen was a local Wagner commander with the call sign "Pond". "Three of us remain and continue to fight," was the last radio message from the unit.
The statement does not provide information on the number of casualties. Russian military bloggers reported that at least 20 Wagner members were killed and some were captured. The Russian edition of the BBC even reported more than 80 dead mercenaries. These figures cannot be independently verified.
Russian military blogger among the dead
According to the independent Russian news channels The Insider and Mediazona, Nikita Fedjanin, administrator of the Wagner-linked Telegram channel Grey Zone with around 500,000 subscribers, is also among the dead. A photo allegedly showing his body is circulating online. Other images on social media, supposedly taken after the skirmish, show the bodies of white and black men in military uniforms next to destroyed vehicles.
The Tuareg had launched a rebellion for their independence in the north of Mali in 2012, temporarily allying themselves with Islamic terrorist groups. The uprising ended with a peace agreement two years later. At the beginning of this year, Mali's military government officially terminated the agreement. The junta is supported by Russia. Western troops had been withdrawn from Mali after years of deployment. The last German soldiers left the country last December.
The Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR, represented by Andrij Jussow, acknowledged that the rebels received "the necessary information to conduct a successful operation against the Wagner group." Following the skirmish, The Commission released a statement confirming the death of a local Wagner commander with the call sign "Pond," and mentioning that "Three of us remain and continue to fight."
