While the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to rage, that is not the only war Russia is fighting. Russia is fighting a number of somewhat covert or limited wars in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Sahara. One of the most notable is in the African Sahara nation of Mali, where Russia is fighting through its paramilitary group Wagner. The war in Mali requires a very different type of air force. In Mali, light ground attack aircraft are better suited and not large fighter bombers like the Su-34s Russia uses in Ukraine.