 Russian Wagner mercenaries helping Mali army kill civilians. The Russian mercenary group known as Wagner is helping government forces in central and northern Mali carry out raids and drone strikes that have killed scores of civilians, including many children. Wright's group said in reports published this week that spanned the period from December to March. Mali, along with neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger, has for over a decade battled an insurgency fought by Islamic extremist groups, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. According to Voice of America, following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling junters have expelled French forces and turned to Russia's mercenary units for security assistance instead. Violence has escalated in Mali since Russian mercenaries arrived there following a coup in 2021. Its ruling junta has ramped up operations carrying out deadly drone strikes that have hit gatherings of civilians and raids accompanied by Russian mercenaries that have killed civilians. Residents of the Sahel region that includes Mali say Russia's presence does not appear to have changed since Wagner's leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a suspicious plane crash last year. Mali's Russia-backed transitional military government is not only committing horrific abuses, but it is working to eliminate scrutiny into its human rights situation. Ilaria Alegrosi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch, said, in an example of a raid carried out by Russian-backed government forces in January, Human Rights Watch said the army entered a village near a military base in central Mali and arrested 25 people, including four children. Their bodies were found later that day, blindfolded and with bullet wounds to the head. The report said. Amnesty International said in a separate report earlier this week that two drone strikes in northern Mali killed at least 13 civilians, including seven children aged 2 to 17. A pregnant woman who was injured in the bombing miscarried days after the attack. It said. Ukraine managed to paralyze traffic on Crimean Bridge. Russian media, 2.500 loaded tanks with oil products, have accumulated on the North Caucasus railway of the Russian Federation due to restrictions on the passage of dangerous goods through the Crimean Bridge and the need to wait for the approach of ferries and tankers, report Russian commissant media outlet. This problem was discussed at a meeting of the Working Group of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation on March 15. It follows, from its proceedings, the publication refers to this document. Some stand for six months. Market participants propose to use more tankers for transportation to the Crimea and in the meantime to block the release of additional tanks to the network in this direction the newspaper writes. According to her, the downtime in the South emphasises the general shortage of oil and gasoline tanks in Russia, assessing it in different ways from hundreds to 45,000 units. Rail companies propose to temporarily lift the ban on extending the service life of tanks, but rail car builders and Russian railways oppose this. Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the security service of Ukraine, said that Russia no longer uses the Crimean Bridge to supply weapons to the front after Ukrainian strikes damaged the crossing. The bridge, also called the Kursh Bridge, connects the Russian mainland with the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula, making it a crucial supply route for the Russian military in Ukraine. Construction on the 19-kilometre-long bridge began after the illegal 2014 annexation and occupation of Crimea and was completed in 2018. The bridge was heavily damaged in Ukrainian strikes in October 2022 and July 2023. The plan to strike the bridge was first conceived in March 2022, Malyuk said. Before the bridge came under attack, 42 to 46 trains carrying weapons and ammunition passed there per day. Malyuk said, today there are four or five in a day of which four are for passenger traffic and one is for consumer goods. Malyuk said, Russian proxy authorities in occupied Crimea regularly shut down traffic on the Crimean Bridge amid reports of explosions and drone strikes. When the structure is fully restored, Russia will likely use the bridge once again for weapons supplies. Malyuk said, but implied that Ukraine plans to then carry out another attack. Everything has its time. A portion of a bridge in the U.S. state of Maryland has collapsed after a large boat struck it, causing multiple vehicles to fall into the water below. Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott says he is aware of the incident at the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the city and is in contact with local authorities. Scott says, I'm aware of an en route to the incident at the Key Bridge. Emergency personnel are on scene and efforts are underway. Baltimore city police have just confirmed with us that it is possible that there are workers in the water after the Key Bridge collapse.