DONETSK, March 19. /TASS/. The Ukrainian command is sending recruited Colombians to the front lines without signing contracts with them, captured Colombian mercenary Jose Luis Pocheco Navarra told TASS, explaining that this is concealed by not providing them with a copy of the contract and promising to issue it after it ends.

"The contract [with the Ukrainian army] supposedly lasts six months. I won’t receive a copy until it expires. They don’t issue a second copy," the prisoner said.

He added that he had not seen the document at all, nor had those who went to Ukraine with him. According to Navarra, this is how mercenaries are kept unaware of the actual absence of contracts with the Ukrainian army. Navarra himself was not even given an account and was first sent to a training ground and then to the front line.

On March 11, TASS reported that a platoon of Ukrainian army soldiers led by a mercenary from Colombia had surrendered to Russian forces in the Zaporozhye Region. Later, a document was found on the foreigner’s phone confirming that Kiev was recruiting Colombians into the Ukrainian military under the guise of participating in the restoration of Ukrainian regions.

According to the captive, Colombians are recruited by their compatriots, and those who join the Ukrainian army are promised about $5,000 per month.