Russia has deployed the Shahed in Africa for the first time
Russian forces have used a "Shahed"-type kamikaze drone on African soil for the first time. After the attack, experts found a number of foreign components inside the drone that are used for navigation and control. On Monday, May 18, in Mali, local rebels shot down a Russian Shahed-136 (“Harpy-A1”) strike drone for the first time, which Russia had used to support its mercenaries in Africa.
Vladislav Vlasyuk, the presidential envoy for sanctions policy, told reporters about this.
He noted that this is the first confirmed case of the use of a drone of this type in the Sahel region. The downed drone is a new modification of the "KK" series, equipped with an air-detonation function for its warhead.
"Russia is increasingly transferring its military technologies and instruments of war to other regions—in particular, to Africa. And it is doing so largely through dual-use components, which continue to flow unhindered into Russian production," Vlasyuk noted.
Civilian electronics (microchips, transistors, diodes, and relays) that can be freely purchased on the open market were found in the drone shot down in Mali. Specifically, these include components from STMicroelectronics, as well as Chinese manufacturers:
Mornsun;
Wayon Electronics;
GigaDevice;
Shenzhen Codaca Electronic;
NCR Industrial.
This same typical electronics configuration is also found in the drones that Russia is using in the war against Ukraine. The situation in Mali demonstrates how quickly civilian technologies can become tools for exporting war.
Vlasyuk noted that as long as the supply of such components to Russia is not strictly controlled, Russian drone production will continue to scale up along with the geography of their deployment.
In Dnipro, a Shahed droneflew into an apartment but did not explode.
In the Kharkiv region, the past 24 hours were marked by intense Russian shelling, which killed a 61-year-old woman and injured seven others, including a one-and-a-half-year-old child; strikes hit both Kharkiv and a number of settlements in the region.
Following the nighttime attack on Dnipro, rescue workers recovered the bodies of two victims from the rubble of a destroyed building; however, according to preliminary data, people may still be trapped under the debris, and search operations continue. The number of casualties has risen to 21; medical personnel continue to provide assistance, and all emergency services are on the scene.
