Wagner lost veteran fighters in Mali ambush, in setback to Russia's Africa campaign: Reuters

Among the dozens of Wagner mercenaries presumed dead after a lethal battle with Tuareg rebels during a desert sandstorm in Mali in July were Russian war veterans who survived tours in Ukraine, Libya, and Syria, according to interviews with relatives and a review of social media data.

The loss of such experienced fighters exposes dangers faced by Russian mercenary forces working for military juntas, which are struggling to contain separatists and powerful offshoots of Islamic State and Al Qaeda across the arid Sahel region in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

The Mali defeat raises doubts over whether Moscow, which has admitted funding Wagner and has absorbed many of its fighters into a defense ministry force, will do better than Western and UN troops recently expelled by the juntas, six officials and experts who work in the region said.

By cross-referencing public information with online posts from relatives and fighters, speaking to seven relatives, and using facial recognition software to analyze battlefield footage verified by Reuters, the news agency was able to identify 23 fighters missing in action and two others taken into Tuareg captivity after the ambush near Tinzaouaten, a town on the Algerian border.

Several of the men had survived the siege of Bakhmut in Ukraine, which Wagner's late founder Yevgeny Prigozhin called a "meat grinder." Others had served in Libya, Syria, and elsewhere. Some were former Russian soldiers, at least one of whom had retired after a full-length army career.

Grisly footage of dead fighters has now circulated online, and some of relatives told Reuters the bodies of their husbands and sons had been abandoned in the desert. Reuters could not confirm how many of the men it identified were dead.

The Russian Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Wagner did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

After Prigozhin died in August last year, Wagner employees were invited to join a newly created group called the Africa Corps under the defense ministry "to fight for justice and the interests of Russia," according to the Africa Corps channel on the social-media platform Telegram.

On the channel, Africa Corps says about half its personnel are former Wagner employees who it allows to use Wagner insignia. Wagner's social media channels remain active.

The Russian government has not publicly commented on the Tinzaouaten battle.

Mali's armed forces-led government said the defeat had no impact on its goals. The Malian Armed Forces "are committed to restoring the authority of the state throughout the country," army spokesman Colonel Major Souleymane Dembele told Reuters.

Wagner has acknowledged heavy losses in the Mali ambush but gave no figure. The Malian army, which fought alongside the Russians, also did not give a toll. Tuareg rebels, who are fighting for an independent homeland, said they had killed 84 Russians and 47 Malians.

Reuters could not independently establish how many were killed in battle. One video, out of more than 20 sent to Reuters by a Tuareg rebel spokesman, showed at least 47 bodies, mostly white men, in military-style uniforms lying in the desert. Reuters verified the location and date of the video.

Mikhail Zvinchuk, a prominent blogger close to the Russian defense ministry, said on the social media platform RuTube in August that the defeat showed Wagner fighters who arrived from Ukraine had underestimated the rebels and the Al Qaeda fighters.

Reuters