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Mali’s military leader Assimi Goita has made his first public appearance since a massive coordinated attack over the weekend.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: On Saturday, al-Qaeda affiliate JNIM and the Tuareg separatist Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) launched a massive coordinated assault across Mali (the largest attack in nearly 15 years). The two groups, once bitter enemies, struck simultaneously at multiple targets including Mali’s main military base in Kati just outside Bamako, the area around Bamako’s international airport, and the northern cities of Kidal, Gao, and Sevare. Car bombs and armed drones were used across multiple fronts in what analysts called an unprecedented level of coordination. At least 23 people were confirmed killed. Mali’s junta, led by Goita since a 2020 coup, has been battling both a Tuareg separatist rebellion in the north and jihadist insurgencies linked to al-Qaeda and ISIS for years, relying heavily on Russian mercenaries after expelling French forces and UN peacekeepers.

Getting into it: In a televised address Tuesday, Goita vowed to “neutralize” those responsible and insisted the situation was “under control” (even as rebels threatened to blockade the capital and the junta’s grip on power looked increasingly fragile). His three-day silence had fueled serious doubts about whether he was even alive. Earlier Tuesday, photos emerged of him meeting Russian Ambassador Igor Gromyko at what appeared to be the presidential palace (his first confirmed sighting since the attacks).

Defense Minister Sadio Camara, considered the architect of the junta’s pivot to Russia and its main point of contact with Moscow, was killed in the weekend attacks. Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed its Africa Corps forces had “prevented a coup” and said around 12,000 attackers took part using sophisticated weapons (but also confirmed that Russian and Malian forces were forced to withdraw from Kidal, the northern city the junta had only recaptured in 2023 in what was considered a major symbolic victory). Social media footage showed Russian soldiers and Malian troops surrendering to insurgents.

This all comes as the situation is deteriorating rapidly. JNIM announced Tuesday it was imposing a blockade on all roads into Bamako. The army also pulled back from several positions in the Gao region, its second-largest military stronghold. The FLA is openly naming its next targets. “The regime will fall, sooner or later,” FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane told AFP from Paris saying rebels intend to take Gao, Timbuktu, and Menaka next. “Our objective is for Russia to withdraw permanently from Mali.”