Banned Russian Submunitions Found After Mali’s Military Announces Airstrikes

Bellingcat and Jeune Afrique analysed social-media footage and satellite imagery that they geolocated to Tadjmart, northern Mali, and found unexploded Russian-made ShOAB-0.5 submunitions and craters consistent with submunition detonations following May 17 strikes. The report documents visual evidence, markings of RBK-500 dispensers, discusses potential actors (Malian forces and Russia’s Africa Corps), notes Mali is a state party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions while Russia is not, and highlights humanitarian and legal concerns but does not definitively attribute which force deployed the munitions.