Russia's Africa Corps deployed a Russian-made kamikaze drone against al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in central Mali before losing the aircraft, Ukrainian defense outlet Militarnyi reported. A local monitoring account says fighters brought it down as the mercenaries pulled back from the Dioura area after more than a week under siege.

Moscow's mercenary arm in Africa answers to the same Defense Ministry that runs its war on Ukraine, and its military supply line into Africa keeps expanding. This lands now because Ukrainian drone crews are helping the forces fighting Russia there, so tactics both sides honed in Ukraine are now surfacing in the Sahel.

A Russian war drone over the Sahel

The monitoring account Alerte Sahel reported that Africa Corps troops, encircled in their camp for over a week, fired the drone at positions of JNIM—the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims—before breaking out and fleeing. The published video shows a damaged fixed-wing drone with an elongated fuselage and a straight wing. Alerte Sahel first called it an Orlan-10. Militarnyi identified it by its shape as a Molniya. The footage shows the aircraft only after it fell and does not reveal how it went down, so the shootdown claim rests on Alerte Sahel's account—which adds that the jihadists are "increasingly developing skills in mastering attack drones."

The Molniya is a cheap, simple fixed-wing kamikaze drone with a range of about 30-40 km. It carries a warhead of up to 7 kg and also flies reconnaissance and artillery-spotting runs.

Fighting around Dioura

Combat near Dioura, in Mali's Mopti region, has run since 10 September 2026, when JNIM struck Malian army positions. Mali's General Staff said it launched air-ground operations in response. It later reported on 17 September that its units, backed by partners, kept up their operations around the town. On 8 September, JNIM had ambushed an Africa Corps and Malian convoy near the village of Kaka in the same region, killing 13 Russian and Malian troops between them.

After the Russian convoy docked in Tobruk, a column including armored personnel carriers, mine-resistant vehicles, and at least three Tornado-U armored trucks was seen heading west from the port in imagery published by the open-source intelligence project Russia Maritime Watch, as reported by Militarnyi.

The armor delivery comes as Russian forces have lost more than 10,000 armored and protected vehicles in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, Britain’s defense chief said. Africa Defense Forum reported that Moscow is funding work at six Libyan air bases, some of which support the movement of weapons and personnel toward Sudan and the Sahel. Russia’s Africa Corps already supports military governments in the Sahel, including Mali’s, while a Russian-operated base in Libya has supplied Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The cargo ships Anastasiia and Yuriy Arshenevskiy carried the shipment, while the Aleksandr Shabalin, a Russian Navy landing ship capable of transporting vehicles and troops, provided an armed escort, according to Militarnyi.

All three vessels crossed the Mediterranean without broadcasting Automatic Identification System data, the signal normally used to reveal a ship’s position.

This was at least the second Russian military shipment to reach Tobruk under naval escort this year. Both cargo ships are under sanctions and have previously carried military cargo. Satellite imagery showed equipment being loaded onto them in August at Baltiysk, a naval base in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, Militarnyi reported.

In January 2026, the sanctioned Mys Zhelaniya delivered military cargo to Tobruk under escort by a large Russian anti-submarine warship.

Tobruk lies in eastern Libya, which is controlled by forces loyal to commander Khalifa Haftar. The six bases under development host Russian personnel, air defenses, combat aircraft, and drones.

Maaten al-Sarra, one of the six bases, lies near Libya’s borders with Chad and Sudan and supports Russian operations extending toward Sudan and the Sahel, the belt of countries immediately south of the Sahara.

Russian and Libyan authorities have not said who will receive the latest cargo, so there is no confirmation that the vehicles are intended for the Africa Corps, the Russian Defense Ministry-run force that took over much of Wagner’s former role in Africa.

Africa Defense Forum reported that Moscow pivoted toward Libya after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, having previously used Syria as a transit hub. Moving the vehicles under naval escort as Russian forces absorb continuing battlefield losses in Ukraine underscores the importance Moscow appears to place on keeping its African corridor supplied.

How Russia expands its reach across Africa

Libya is one node in Russia’s wider African system. Through the Africa Corps, Moscow supports autocracy-minded military governments and armed groups throughout the continent in exchange for political influence and access to natural resources. Human rights groups and local residents have accused Russian personnel and their partners of killings and other abuses against civilians, including in Mali.

Ukraine’s military intelligence says Kremlin-backed Russian Houses seek to cultivate young Africans with pro-Moscow views. Moscow also invests in education programs and cultural events across the continent to spread a positive image of Russia, its politics, and its culture.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in August that nearly 500 Africans recruited into Russia’s military had died. Ukrainian drone specialists are also helping forces fighting Russian troops in Mali and operating in Sudan and Libya, CNN reported.

Three men were found guilty on July 8 in connection with an arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in London, which British authorities say was orchestrated by Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Reuters reported.

The alleged ringleader, Dylan Earl, 21, had already pleaded guilty to aggravated arson over the 2024 blaze targeting companies that were supplying Elon Musk's Starlink satellite equipment to Ukraine, according to Reuters.

The systems are considered vital to Ukraine's communications and defense against Russia's ongoing invasion.

Earl also became the first person convicted under the U.K.'s National Security Act after admitting to a separate plot to attack a wine shop and restaurant in London’s upscale Mayfair district and to kidnap its owner, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Two others, Jake Reeves, 23, and Earl’s associate, also pleaded guilty to aggravated arson, with Reeves admitting to a charge under the National Security Act for receiving a material benefit from a foreign intelligence agency.

A jury at London's Old Bailey court convicted three additional men, Nii Kojo Mensah, 23, Jakeem Rose, 23, and Ugnius Asmena, 20, of aggravated arson. They had denied the charges. A fourth man, Paul English, 61, was acquitted.

Two other defendants, Ashton Evans, 20, and Dmitrijus Paulauskas, 23, were charged with failing to disclose knowledge of terrorist activity. Evans was convicted on one count and cleared of another. Paulauskas was acquitted of both charges and reportedly broke down in tears as the verdict was read.

Commander Dominic Murphy of the London Metropolitan Police reportedly said he was confident the Wagner Group and the Russian state were behind the attacks.

The U.K. has designated the Wagner Group as a terrorist organization.

Earl had exchanged hundreds of encrypted messages with a supposed Wagner handler using the alias "Privet Bot" on Telegram. According to reporting by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the account was previously advertised by Grey Zone, a Wagner-affiliated channel.

Prosecutors said Earl expressed interest in fighting for Wagner and was encouraged to recruit contacts from British soccer hooligan networks, Irish republican groups, and organized crime circles, Reuters reported. He and Evans also admitted to unrelated charges of dealing cocaine.

The Russian Embassy in London has denied any involvement in the warehouse attack and accused the British government of blaming Russia for domestic issues.

The Kremlin has consistently rejected accusations of sabotage and espionage, despite growing evidence and convictions tied to Russian-linked operations across Europe.

‘Neither side wasted time’ — Ukraine’s economy minister on minerals deal negotiations with Trump’s ‘business-oriented’ administration

Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko says her task is simple — to get the investment fund behind the closely watched minerals deal with the U.S. off the ground, and prove its detractors wrong. “There are so many criticisms from different parties that this fund is just a piece of paper we can put on the shelves — that it won’t be operational,” Svyrydenko, who is also Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister, tells the Kyiv Independent at Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on July 4, the morning

The Kyiv IndependentLiliane Bivings

Since 2021, Russian Wagner mercenaries have detained, tortured, and forcibly disappeared hundreds of civilians in secret prisons across Mali, according to a joint investigation published on June 12 by Forbidden Stories, France 24, Le Monde, and IStories.

The investigation found that mercenaries with Russia's Wagner Group, working alongside Malian government forces, had systematically abducted and detained civilians, holding them in prisons at former United Nations bases and military bases across Mali.

Drawing on eyewitness accounts and satellite imagery, the investigation identified six detention centers where Wagner held civilians between 2022 and 2024. The total number of Wagner detention centers in Mali is likely to be much higher.

Prisoners were subjected to systematic torture – including beatings, waterboarding, electric shocks, starvation, and confinement in sweltering metal containers.

The investigation was carried out as part of the Viktoriia project, in memory of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was captured by Russian forces in 2023 while investigating the illegal detention of civilians in Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine. She was killed in Russian captivity in 2024.

The Russian mercenary group, known for its deployment in Ukraine and short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin in 2023, has a strong presence across the African continent, backing Russian business interests and Moscow-friendly regimes.

The mercenaries have been particularly active in Mali since late 2021 and have been accused of perpetrating war crimes. In December 2024, Human Rights Watch accused Wagner mercenaries and Malian government forces of deliberately killing 32 civilians.

The Wagner Group recently announced its withdrawal from Mali, where it fought alongside Malian government forces to fend off Islamist insurgents. Wagner has been active across the African continent for years and has been previously accused of committing human rights abuses.

Ukraine war latest: Ukraine strikes targets in Russia, including gunpowder plant

Key developments on June 11: * Ukrainian drones strike targets in Russia, including gunpowder plant, General Staff says * Zelensky urges ‘stronger’ EU sanctions on Russia, lower oil price cap * Ukraine repatriates bodies of 1,212 fallen soldiers * Ukraine’s SBU releases fresh video of Operation Spiderweb, teases ‘new surprises’ * NATO summit statement

The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk