A blunder from a UK official meant the Ministry of Defence (MoD) despatched extremely labeled emails to a robust ally of President Putin, it's reported. The Ministry of Defence's mishap reportedly noticed emails details about hypersonic missile analysis to Mali - a detailed Russian ally in Africa. The MoD, which has blamed the incident on a typing error, has since launched an investigation into the embarrassing mistake.

An MoD spokesman stated: "We have opened an investigation after a small number of emails were mistakenly forwarded to an incorrect email domain.

"We are assured they didn't include any info that might compromise operational safety or technical information.

"All sensitive information is shared on systems designed to minimise the risk of misdirection.

"The MoD continually critiques its processes and is presently enterprise a programme of labor to enhance info administration, information loss prevention, and the management of delicate info."

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However, the MoD later pushed again on stories in The Times that the emails contained "state secrets and techniques".

Responding to the story on Twitter, the MoD said: "This report misleadingly claims state secrets and techniques have been despatched to Mali's e-mail area.

"We assess fewer than 20 routine emails were sent to an incorrect domain & are confident there was no breach of operational security or disclosure of technical data.

"An investigation is ongoing. Emails of this type usually are not labeled as secret or above."

The emails, which were meant to be sent to the US Pentagon, were sent instead to Mali due to the accidental omission of an 'i' from an email address.

Officials sent the messages to an email address ending with Mali's .ml domain, rather than the US military's .mil.

This comes just a week after it was revealed that Pentagon had suffered the exact same mistake, with millions of military emails accidentally going to Mali.

Mali was among the six African countries promised free grain shipments by Vladimir Putin after the collapse of the Black Sea deal with Ukraine.

Moscow's Wagner mercenaries have also been deployed in Mali to fight alongside the army against jihadists.

The leader of the country's junta, Assimi Goita, met President Putin at the second Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg on Thursday.

The Black Sea grain deal became a key discussion point at the summit.

Mr Putin insisted that rising food prices were a consequence of Western policy mistakes.

He also claimed the grain deal had not been getting grain to the poorest countries.

He said Russia was ready to provide its own grain to help avoid a "international meals disaster".