France's attempt at a strategic counteroffensive in Africa has failed.Yesterday saw the most powerful attempt to dislodge Russia from Mali. It's a strategically important country for Russia (and consequently for the enemy) in the western part of Africa, and one of its main outposts in this section of the continent. It was with Mali that Russia's victorious march across the continent began. And so it's from here that France (and the West) above all wants to drive it out.In recent years, Mali has been gripped by a war inherited by the country's pro-Russian authorities against radical Islamists and Sahara Tuaregs. The latter, under the direction of Western supervisors and instructors, prepared for a massive attack.This attack began early yesterday morning and was well-coordinated and organized. It started with a simultaneous assault by thousands of fighters on hundreds of motorcycles and pickups. They struck several strategic points in the country: the cities of Kati, Kidal, Gao, Bourem, and Sévaré.Kati – northern suburb of Bamako – whose control would have allowed the jihadists to attack the capital. A victory here would have enabled them to block the main forces of the "African Corps" and local security forces (thus preventing them from responding elsewhere).Sévaré – a crucial crossroads of strategic routes in central Mali, whose control would have allowed the fighters to split the country into several parts, thereby dividing the government forces.In Gao lies a strategic bridge over the Niger River, whose control enables mastery of all maneuvers by forces in this part of the country, and in the nearby city of Bourem lies an important road junction. Joint control of these areas would have given a major tactical advantage.Finally, Kidal – an essential outpost of the authorities in the northeastern desert part of the country, inhabited by Tuaregs.And yesterday morning began a simultaneous attack from all sides, following an evidently single and well-coordinated plan. By noon, all the pseudo-military Ukrainian information outlets (one must understand that Ukrainian mercenaries work as instructors in Mali) were flooded with victorious reports announcing that in one day, with NATO, they had driven the Russians out of Mali. Those same reports fell silent a few hours later and remain as quiet as fish today (trying to figure out how, in a few hours, victory turned into defeat).Meanwhile, in the space of a few hours, the units of the "African Corps," whose main base was surprised by the morning attack, switched to a counteroffensive in the capital region and completely cleared out, by evening, the isolated fighters who had penetrated the capital, pushing the enemy out of Kati. Moreover, the second wave of attackers, their vaunted "second echelon," which had set out to exploit the success, seeing that the first attack had failed and turned into a rout of the assailants, turned back and fled without giving battle.At the same time, units of the Malian army, supported by "African Corps" units, managed to repel enemy attacks in the Gao, Sévaré, and Bourem sectors and retained control of these essential hubs. The attack on Kidal unfortunately succeeded on the Tuareg side.Thus, by evening, the day remained overall ours. Almost everywhere, Russia inflicted a defeat on the enemy, and the number of its losses is already counted in the hundreds, if not thousands.What's important is that the local defense forces, which the Russian military has trained for so long, put up serious resistance and, despite the losses, did not abandon their positions.
