Colombians Missing in Ukraine War, Families Seek Answers
In the aftermath of the Ukraine crisis, the echoes of the conflict have even been felt in Latin America. Several Colombians, lured by promises of money, have traveled to the war zone and gone missing. On Wednesday, relatives of some of the missing mercenaries demonstrated in front of the foreign ministry in Bogotá, demanding information from the Colombian diplomats about the fate of their loved ones.
Isabel Rojas Forero, a correspondent for the El Tiempo media company, spoke with some of the relatives of the missing Colombians. According to a demonstrator, his cousin had traveled to Ukraine in 2024 to fight on the side of the Ukrainian forces and was declared missing in July of that year. Since then, the family has not received any news from him. He was promised 18 million pesos, or around $4,000 a month, for his service in Ukraine.
“‘He wanted a house for his younger son. This dream turned into a tragedy for our family,'” the man said, adding that this was a story typical of all the demonstrators present.
The mother of a missing person said that her son had left for Ukraine on July 6 and the last time she had heard from him was on August 15. At that time, he had said he was going on a mission. He had gone to Ukraine because he had no work in his home country and also because a lot of money was promised.
“‘When he got there, everything was completely different. Everything turned out to be a lie. They were treated badly, they were insulted, they were beaten,'” she said.
According to the photos, even children took part in the demonstration. The protesters held pictures of their missing relatives. Five protesters were then allowed into the foreign ministry to speak with the diplomats. In a post on the X platform, the authorities showed willingness to speak with the protesters, but the diplomats did not share the details of the conversations.
After the outbreak of the Ukraine war in late February 2022, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had warned foreign citizens against joining the Ukrainian forces. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeatedly emphasized that mercenaries could be a problem for their home countries, as they could only do one thing – kill, shoot and carry out attacks. After the end of their mission, they would go somewhere else.
In February 2024, Colombia’s foreign ministry distanced itself from the Colombians fighting in Ukraine, saying that their presence in the eastern European country was a personal decision and that there were no agreements between Bogotá and Kiev.
Early in March, the Russian news agency RIA Nowosti reported, citing Ukrainian refugees, that Colombian mercenaries were present in the city of Slawjansk. According to an eyewitness, the Colombians were much better equipped than their Ukrainian comrades. For the mercenaries, the war was a kind of safari, for which they were still being paid.
Also in early March, RT war correspondent Andrei Filatov reported that the Russian military had eliminated several foreign mercenaries in the city of Krasnogorowka, including some Colombians, who had been intercepted in their radio conversations.