The Forces News portal, operated by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) and partly funded by the UK Ministry of Defence, published an article about citizens from several Latin American countries who, after returning from the Russian–Ukrainian war, are seeking employment in the criminal underworld.
‘Thousands of Latin Americans have enlisted in the International Legion of Ukraine – most of them from Colombia, but many Brazilians and Mexicans have also gone to fight. Applicants are screened by Ukrainian security services, but some alleged criminals have managed to pass the screening,’ wrote Forces News.
Drugs and organised crime
Several volunteers in the ranks of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion told the Telegraph in October last year that security checks are rare and that the military or civilian background of applicants for front-line positions is often not verified.
This allows people with links to criminal networks on the other side of the globe to enlist.
Alexander Marciniak, an analyst for Latin American intelligence services, told the Telegraph that cartel members are not joining the Ukrainian army to support Ukrainian defenders, but to learn modern drone warfare tactics that they can later use against rival groups in Mexico.
Over the past year, the US Department of Homeland Security has recorded 27,000 drones on the US–Mexico border. These drones monitor the movements of Mexican and US security forces and adjust their activities accordingly. Some of them are most likely controlled by men with experience from the front lines of the Russian–Ukrainian war.
The Ukrainian battlefield – where drones have proved their worth – has also influenced the Latin American underworld. Last year, local media reported that some cartels were significantly modernising and rearming themselves with drones. Full-fledged training for drone operators is apparently a luxury under local conditions, so the cartels are using the services of veterans who have returned from Ukraine.
A cartel recruit in Ukraine
In July 2025, Mexican security forces alerted Kyiv that familiar faces from the Mexican underworld had appeared in the ranks of the Ukrainian Foreign Legion. One of them was a Mexican using the combat nickname Aguila 7, or Eagle 7. He was preparing for deployment in western Ukraine as a drone operator when it emerged that he was a member of the feared Mexican drug cartel Los Zetas.
The cartel had apparently sent him to Ukraine to recruit a drone operator for its own needs. FPV drones, controlled by an operator in real time, can be used for reconnaissance, transporting small cargo or dropping explosives. The operator sees the target through a camera mounted on the drone. FPV stands for ‘first-person view’.
On the front line, such small drones are used to kill individuals and destroy larger pieces of equipment They were used, for example, during Operation Spiderweb.
In addition to small drones used for tactical purposes, there are also larger drones designed for strategic use. Unlike their smaller counterparts, they do not take off from the ground or from the hand but are launched from a ramp like a rocket. However, the cartels do not possess such systems.
Different motivations
While Russia attracts nationals from African, Asian and Latin American countries with the prospect of citizenship and residence in what it presents as a more stable country than their own, war-torn Ukraine, lacking a secure rear base, does not offer comparable incentives.
As a result, significantly fewer foreigners are fighting on Ukraine’s side. With the exception of Latin Americans, they are mainly men from European Union countries and the United States. Since they generally come from more developed countries, their motivation is usually to fight against Russia.
Interest in Ukrainian citizenship is shown almost exclusively by volunteers from Russia and Belarus who, unlike volunteers from Latin America, the EU or the US, cannot return home.
According to Forces News, men with experience from modern Eastern European battlefields are in high demand among cartels in South and Central America. It is therefore possible that law-abiding citizens from Colombia, Mexico or Brazil are also enlisting in the Ukrainian army with the intention of joining one of the criminal groups immediately after returning from the front.
Convicts in Russian ranks
By contrast, Russia has relied heavily on prisoners to reinforce its forces since the early stages of the war. Beginning in 2022, the Wagner mercenary group recruited inmates directly from Russian penal colonies, promising pardons in exchange for six months of combat service.
Independent investigations by Russian media outlets have identified at least about 48,000 prisoners recruited by Wagner alone in 2022 and 2023, while broader estimates suggest that as many as 140,000 to 180,000 convicts may have been deployed during the war. Many of them were used in high-risk assault units and suffered particularly heavy losses in battles such as the fighting around Bakhmut.
Russian recruitment efforts have also extended beyond its own prison population. Reports indicate that migrants and foreign nationals have been encouraged to sign military contracts, and Western intelligence agencies say that North Korea has supplied several thousand soldiers to support the Russian war in Ukraine.