Russia’s Wagner Suffers Most Casualties Since Deploying to Mali

More than two dozen mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group and Malian soldiers were killed last week while fighting rebels in northern Mali, according to a pro-Kremlin news source, suffering what’s likely the group’s biggest death toll since it deployed to the West African country in 2021.

Wagner forces and Malian army troops deployed last week on the northeastern border with Algeria waged “fierce battles” with the insurgents, the mercenary group said in a statement on its Telegram channel, without providing the number of casualties. The group lost more than 25 fighters, according to the pro-Kremlin African Initiative information portal.