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Ukraine bringing in Colombian mercenaries to reinforce battle-weary forces — AP

The news agency explains that Colombians come to fight for Ukraine because they can earn four times more money than what they could in their home country

WASHINGTON, February 8. /TASS/. The Ukrainian armed forces have been actively recruiting mercenaries from Colombia since 2023 to shore up its ranks, the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing sources.

According to Alexander Shakhuri, an officer in the Ukrainian military’s Department of Coordination of Foreigners, if in 2022 foreign mercenaries came to Ukraine from post-Soviet and English-speaking countries, last year the recruitment was extended to Latin America. According to the news agency, the new mercenaries are retired veterans from Colombia, who travel to Ukraine by the hundreds. The AP explains that Colombians come to fight for Ukraine because they can earn four times more money than what they could in their home country.

In July 2023, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that since February 24, 2022, a total of 11,675 foreign mercenaries from 84 countries had officially arrived in Ukraine to participate in combat operations on Ukraine’s side. The largest groups came from Poland (more than 2,600 people), the US and Canada (over 900 people) and Georgia (more than 800 people). The Ukrainian side has already lost more than 4,800 mercenaries, and another 4,800 have fled the territory of Ukraine.

On February 2, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that last month the Ukrainian military lost over 23,000 servicemen, and more than 3,000 enemy weapons were destroyed. In total, Kiev has lost more than 383,000 people since the beginning of the special military operation.

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Ukraine crisis Colombia

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