BUENOS AIRES, February 23. /TASS/. Four Colombian mercenaries died near the town of Kurakhovo in the Donetsk People's Republic following a missile bombardment of the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces, the Colombian newspaper Vanguardia reported.
Wilmer Martinez Vasquez, 28, died on February 19 in Ukraine, where he had traveled since April 2023 to join the International Defense Legion.
"From the Ukrainian battalion to which he belonged, they have not even called us to officially notify us that he died," said Vasquez's brother in a conversation with the Colombian media.
As Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier, Moscow hopes that the leadership in Bogota realizes the danger of the consequences of the participation of Colombian mercenaries in the conflict in Ukraine. In turn, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia said that it does not encourage or facilitate this type of activity.
In July 2023, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that a total of 11,675 mercenaries from 84 countries had arrived in Ukraine since February 24, 2022 to take part in the fighting. The largest groups arrived from Poland (more than 2,600 people), the USA and Canada (about 900 people) and Georgia (more than 800 people).