Human Rights Watch reported that the Russian government-controlled Africa Corps carried out airstrikes in central Mali on June 15, 2026, causing civilian casualties.
The first airstrike in Kyrnia struck outside the village chief's residence, killing his wife, two of his children, and another child, and injuring a woman. The second airstrike in Kyrnia struck a small cattle market, killing four men and injuring two others.
Two Malian military sources identified the aircraft that dropped munitions on Kyrnia village as a Sukhoi Su-24. While the Africa Corps has deployed Su-24 aircraft in Mali since at least April 2025 in support of the Malian military, the Russia Defense Ministry claims its forces used Su-24s to strike militants, standing in contradiction to reports of civilian deaths.
The Africa Corps reported on its Facebook and X accounts that it had carried out a successful airstrike on a 'gathering place of terrorist groups' in the Mopti region on June 15, 2026. No Islamist armed group fighters were known to be casualties in the June 15, 2026 airstrikes in Kyrnia.
The Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM) has controlled Kyrnia for the past six years. While witnesses reported that at least 100 JNIM fighters were in Kyrnia at the time of the airstrikes, creating a tension regarding the target of the operation, the casualties reported were civilians.
Analysis of satellite imagery from June 25, 2026, and Africa Corps video shows two craters in the southern part of Kyrnia, each about 12 meters wide. Human Rights Watch remotely interviewed 19 people between June 24 and July 14, 2026, including six witnesses, civil society members, community leaders, Malian military sources, and local journalists.
Human Rights Watch sent a letter to the Russian defense minister on July 22, 2026, summarizing its findings, but received no response. The mercenary Wagner Group was rebranded as the Africa Corps after its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in 2023, and came under Moscow's direct control.
Mali's junta leader, Gen. Assimi Goïta, expelled French and United Nations forces and strengthened ties with Russia after military coups in 2020 and 2021.