KYIEV, Apr 24 (THE AFRICAN PORTAL) – On the most dangerous parts of Ukraine’s front line, it’s almost as common these days to hear Spanish as Ukrainian. Many Colombian soldiers are now fighting in Ukraine, lured by the comparatively high salaries, but also by a sense of adventure and of helping a good cause. Our reporters Gulliver Cragg and Catalina Gomez travelled around Colombia and Ukraine to understand what drives these men to go to war and what their families think.
According to an investigation by the Ukrainian media NV earlier this year, upwards of 7,000 Colombians have fought in the Ukrainian armed forces since 2022. At first, like other foreign fighters who responded to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for help that year, Colombian soldiers volunteered and made their own way to Ukraine. Since then, Ukrainian brigades have started offering to pay for their travel to the country, where they are very much in demand.
As Kyiv struggles to recruit soldiers for frontline positions, Colombians are attracted by the Ukrainian military’s high salaries. But also, in many cases, by a sense of adventure and quest for purpose in life. Colombia’s 2016 peace settlement has left many soldiers there feeling underused as well as underpaid. Many have also gone to fight in other wars – in Yemen or Sudan, for example – but Ukraine is the first place where they are recruited officially into the host country’s armed forces. There are no official figures, but Ukrainian military sources estimate that some 40 percent of all foreigners fighting for Ukraine today are Colombian.
Not all are joining the Ukrainian side, however. Increasingly, Russia too is joining the mainly TikTok-based battle to recruit Colombians. A Colombian NGO that helps those who have disappeared says it is much harder to get any information at all from the Russians. Numerous Colombians are also without news of their loved ones who went to fight for Ukraine. However, the fact that they don’t always tell their relatives what they’re doing complicates matters still further. And while many Colombians report prompt and honest payments and seem to develop a great affection for Ukraine, others report difficulties in getting their money. Still more are unprepared for the sheer brutality of the conflict they are heading to.
These issues, along with the high mortality rate, mean that Colombian TikToks about Ukraine are as full of warnings not to come as of encouragement to do so. Yet they keep coming. Recruiters for Ukraine in Bogota told our reporters they often have more requests for information than they are able to respond to.
FRANCE 24’s Gulliver Cragg and Catalina Gomez travelled around Colombia and Ukraine to get a sense of what motivates the Colombians to come, of how much their presence helps Ukraine – but also the pain it can bring to their families.
Credit: France24
