A Tuareg militant group spokesman said some Malian troops and Russian fighters had also been captured during the battle. According to some unofficial Russian Telegram channels, as many as 80 Russians were killed. The commander – call-sign Rusich – said on Telegram he was trying to convey a message to the Russian Defense Ministry. And in Syria five years ago, a disastrous attack by Russian mercenaries on an oil refinery led to dozens of casualties. One of them was an IED attack on a Russian vehicle in the same region of Mali as the latest devastating assault.
