Wagner mercenaries were killed by jihadis and rebels over the weekend in northern Mali in what one analyst described on Monday as the largest battleground blow to the shadowy Russian group in years. Others were taken captive.

Approximately 50 Wagner fighters in a convoy were killed in an al-Qaida ambush, which was joined by rebels who were in pursuit, along the border with Algeria, said Wassim Nasr, a Sahel specialist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, a security think tank, who said he counted bodies in a video of the aftermath.

The mercenaries had been fighting mostly Tuareg rebels alongside Mali’s army when their convoy was forced to retreat into jihadi territory and ambushed south of the commune of Tinzaouaten, Nasr said.

The head of Ukraine’s Olympic delegation touted the limited numbers of Russian athletes at the Paris Olympics — who must compete as neutrals — as war between the two countries grinds on for a third year.

Vadym Guttsait told The Associated Press in an interview that Ukraine began the effort to reduce the number of Russian and Belarusian athletes after the Kremlin’s forces invaded Ukraine in 2022 and have kept pressing it nearly until the start of the Games in Paris. Belarus is a key ally of Moscow’s.

“During the war, they have no place in the international world,” Guttsait said. “Because every day our people, women and children are killed. Every day they bomb us, and the missiles are flying over our country.”

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russian forces would shoot down U.S.-built F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine, and that the F-16s would have no significant impact on the course of the war.

Lithuanian and U.S. officials confirmed on Wednesday that Ukraine had received the first order of long-awaited jets, which are equipped with a 20mm cannon and can carry bombs, rockets and missiles.

Asked about the F-16s, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “If I’m not mistaken, rewards (for Russian forces to shoot them down) have already been offered.”

He predicted the planes would not be a “magic pill” for Kyiv’s forces.

“These planes will appear and gradually their number will decrease; they will be shot down and destroyed,” he said.

“These deliveries will not be able to significantly influence the dynamics of events at the front.”

Appearing in court, Evan Gershkovich would often crack a smile or laugh for the cameras from inside the glass-walled cage he was being held in. On another occasion he made a heart shape with his hands and put it to his chest.

A message to family, friends and the wider world that the trumped up espionage charges for which he was handed a 16-year sentence would not break him.

The Kremlin is also expected to release dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, 42, who has been a vocal detractor of Russian president and former KGB officer Vladimir Putin. Kara-Murza was given a whopping 25-year sentence in April 2023 on charges including treason, after he came out against Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

On Day 1 of the war, President Vladimir Putin said “whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to consequences you have never seen in history.”

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Putin and other Kremlin voices have frequently threatened the West with its nuclear arsenal.

Over nearly 2 1/2 years of fighting, the West has given Ukraine billions of dollars of advanced weapons, some of which have struck Russian soil. And while there have been more Kremlin threats — and even the deployment of battlefield nuclear weapons in Belarus, just over the border from Ukraine — so far it has remained only a blunt message.

In case you missed this from Wednesday…

A Russian court on Wednesday ordered a French citizen arrested in Russia to remain in custody ahead of his trial on charges of unlawfully collecting information on military issues.

Laurent Vinatier was arrested in the Russian capital in June as tensions flared between Moscow and Paris following French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments about the possibility of deploying French troops in Ukraine.

The American-made F-16 is an iconic fighter jet that’s been the front-line combat plane of choice for the NATO alliance and numerous air forces across the world for 50 years.

Western countries have pledged F-16s to Kyiv, and some have arrived in Ukraine, officials in Washington confirmed. The fighter jets are expected to start flying sorties in Ukrainian skies soon and will be a much-needed boost to the country’s current fleet of Soviet-era jets to counter Russia’s invasion.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russian forces would shoot down U.S.-built F-16 fighter jets sent to Ukraine, and that the F-16s would have no significant impact on the course of the war.

Lithuanian and U.S. officials confirmed on Wednesday that Ukraine had received the first order of long-awaited jets, which are equipped with a 20mm cannon and can carry bombs, rockets and missiles.

Asked about the F-16s, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “If I’m not mistaken, rewards (for Russian forces to shoot them down) have already been offered.”

He predicted the planes would not be a “magic pill” for Kyiv’s forces.

“These planes will appear and gradually their number will decrease; they will be shot down and destroyed,” he said.

“These deliveries will not be able to significantly influence the dynamics of events at the front.”