Colombia’s illegal armed groups are orchestrating complex schemes to embed their soldiers within Ukrainian military ranks, not out of ideological fervour, but to master the art of modern drone warfare and bring those lethal skills back to South America’s longest-running conflict.
The new training ground
The trenches of Ukraine have become an unwitting training academy for cartels and paramilitaries. According to a report by the Financial Times, Colombian criminal factions are secretly funnelling fighters into the war with the specific goal of gaining battlefield expertise in unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
A Colombian humanitarian worker in Ukraine told the FT that the sophistication of these recruitment schemes is deeply alarming. “The recruitment schemes are very complex, but what concerns me most is the level of specialisation they are acquiring,” the worker said. “Ex-combatants, ex-guerrillas, and former soldiers are fighting together and learning to operate drones here.”
Air supremacy lost
The technological shift has profound implications for the decades-long internal conflict in Colombia, which has claimed roughly 450,000 lives since the 1960s. The proliferation of cheap, weaponised drones has shattered the Colombian government’s long-held advantage in the skies.
“The drone industry is evolving rapidly, and criminals have adapted this technology to carry out attacks, which poses a serious challenge to air superiority on the battlefield,” Colombian Defence Minister and Air Force General Pedro Sánchez told the FT. Bogotá’s military dominance is waning; defence ministry data reveals that criminal groups carried out 264 attacks using low-cost, explosives-laden UAVs between 2024 and 2025.
The fight to “outsmart” the state
While the Colombian military has successfully neutralised 96 per cent of these drone attacks over the past year by jamming radio frequencies or destroying the devices, the criminal groups are evolving. They are openly hunting for veterans of the Ukraine war who specialise in First Person View (FPV) drones. One Colombian soldier operating drones in Ukraine told the FT that cartel recruiters are actively seeking this expertise, as the technology is only just arriving back home.
“FPV drones are already beginning to be used in Colombia, but they don’t yet know how to encrypt the communication between the drone and the person piloting it, or how to rig explosives the way they do here in Ukraine,” the soldier explained. In a move to bypass military electronic warfare systems, the groups are also importing drones guided by ultra-thin fibre-optic cables.
In response to this escalating threat, Colombia is imposing strict import restrictions on all drones. Furthermore, in January, Bogotá announced a massive $1.6 billion plan to construct a national “anti-drone protective shield” to secure its airspace.
The mercenary phenomenon
The scale of Colombian involvement in the Ukraine conflict is vast. While previous reports by The Wall Street Journal identified the country as a prime recruiting ground for foreign wars, driven by high pay and job scarcity, the political backlash is growing.
In October 2025, Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued a stark rebuke, claiming 7,000 Colombian ex-military personnel are fighting in Ukraine. “Ukrainians treat Colombians like an inferior race. I call on Colombian mercenaries, who are used as cannon fodder and sent by Miami-based companies, to return to their country immediately,” Petro declared, denouncing the practice of mercenarism as illegal and a senseless loss of life.
