Ukraine's advance in Kursk has led many Russian mercenaries to leave Burkina Faso to support the Russian military on home soil, says a militia leader to the news agency AFP.
We thought the Ukrainians wanted to put an end to the war and sit down at the negotiating table, but after their incursion into the Kursk region, we see that they have chosen the path of war and war is our job, says Viktor Jermolajev, leader of Medvedi.
The militia group, also known as the Bear Brigade, is one of several that have emerged alongside the Wagner Group and is said to have close ties to Russia.
Jermolajev does not want to say what the group was doing in Burkina Faso or how many soldiers have now returned to Russia, but says that before Ukraine attacked Kursk, they had around 300 soldiers in the country.
A security source in the West tells the news agency that hundreds have now left Burkina Faso.
