Mexican Drug Cartel Members Join Ukrainian Military Training to Learn Drone Warfare
24th September 2025
Mexican intelligence services warned Ukraine earlier this summer that Mexican volunteers had joined the International Legion not out of solidarity, but to acquire advanced combat drone training for the benefit of drug cartels back home, according to a July report by the French outlet Intelligence Online.
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), together with military intelligence, has launched investigations into several Spanish-speaking units of the Legion to identify alleged cartel members from Mexico and Colombia. These individuals reportedly used private security companies in Latin America to reach the front, including at least three former members of the Colombian FARC, who infiltrated with Panamanian and Venezuelan papers.
According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report, cartel-linked fighters were especially focused on learning the latest tactics for using FPV (first-person view) drones in combat. “We welcomed them in good faith, but we realized Ukraine had become the epicenter of global FPV tactics. Some only come here to learn how to kill with a $400 drone, then take that knowledge elsewhere,” an SBU officer said.
I suggest we leave the Ukrainians to face the Russians by themselves.