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A private military force called the “Bear Brigade” has been withdrawn from Burkina Faso to Kursk province to join efforts to deal with Ukrainian forces there - according to French newspaper Le Monde.
Forces from a Russian private military company with links to the Russian Defense Ministry are withdrawing from Burkina Faso and deploying to Kursk province to counter the Ukrainian campaign, the French newspaper Le Monde reported on August 29.
According to Le Monde, the 100-man unit known as the “Bears Brigade” arrived in the West African country of Burkina Faso in May to support the government of Captain Ibrahim Traore, who took power in a military coup in September 2022.
Mr. Traore visited Russia in July 2023 to attend the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, where he met with President Vladimir Putin and attended the Russian Navy Day celebrations.
Le Monde newspaper said that an estimated 300 Russian soldiers are deployed in Burkina Faso.
The newspaper also contacted the commander of the “Bear Brigade”, Viktor Yermolaev, via Telegram, on August 22, two weeks after Ukraine launched its attack on Kursk.
"When the enemy comes to our Russian territory, all Russian soldiers forget about internal problems and unite against the common enemy," Mr. Yermolaev told Le Monde at the time.
On August 27, the Bear Brigade’s Telegram channel posted that the unit was returning to its base in Crimea “in connection with recent events.” Yermolaev also told Le Monde that his unit “has no connection with the Russian Ministry of Defense.”
The Bear Brigade was formed in March 2023 and is part of a Russian military group called Redut, which describes itself as a private military company. An RFE investigation in 2023 revealed that Redut is controlled by the GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency.
Meanwhile, Burkina Faso is said to be at the heart of Russia’s efforts to expand its influence in Africa. Burkina Faso’s two neighbors, Mali and Niger, recently severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine after accusations that Kiev was supporting local Tuareg-led rebels.
Rebel forces are believed to have inflicted significant losses on Malian soldiers and the Russian private military group Wagner Group in late July.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on August 5 called the decision "hasty" and said Mali had not provided evidence proving Ukraine's involvement with local rebels.
Regarding the situation on the ground in Kursk, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on August 28 that the Russian military continued to neutralize the attacks of Ukrainian forces. The Northern Task Force, with the support of the Air Force and artillery, repelled eight attacks by Ukrainian assault groups in the direction of Borki, Korenevo, Kremyanoye and Malaya Loknya.
Russian troops also thwarted Ukrainian attempts to attack Spalnoye, Olgovka and Russkaya Konopelka. Ukrainian concentrations of personnel and equipment in several places in Kursk were also attacked. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, five Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to Russian forces.
Then, in an update on the battlefield situation on August 29, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the Northern Operational Group had prevented four Ukrainian attacks on settlements in the Kursk region.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, since the start of the Kursk operation on August 6, Ukraine has lost up to 7,000 soldiers, 74 tanks, 35 infantry fighting vehicles, 62 armored personnel carriers, 460 armored fighting vehicles, 210 vehicles, 51 artillery pieces, 13 multiple launch rocket systems, 5 surface-to-air missile launchers, 10 electronic warfare stations, two counter-battery radars, and one air defense radar. However, these figures are not acknowledged by Ukraine and have not been independently verified.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on August 28 that foreign mercenaries are actively participating in Ukraine's attack on Kursk.
"So-called mercenaries from third countries are taking part in the attack on the Kursk region. American mercenaries openly posted a photo online of a mortar position next to a children's playground in Kursk," the Russian diplomat said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) David Cohen said on August 28 that Russian forces will face "a difficult fight" in Kursk.
Although Ukraine says it has no plans to annex the area it controls in Russia, Kiev's military is building up defenses and appears to intend to retain "some of that territory for a period of time," Cohen said.
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi said on August 27 that the number of Russian soldiers in Kursk is increasing every day, and that Moscow has currently deployed about 30,000 troops there.
Mr. Syrskyi stated that as of August 27, Ukraine had taken control of 1,294 square kilometers of Russian territory, equivalent to 100 settlements in Kursk. General Syrsky said that Ukraine's offensive was aimed at forcing Russia to divert its troops from two key points along the front line in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. However, he also admitted that Moscow had seen through Kiev's plan and was still intensifying its attacks on Ukraine's defenses in Donbas.
