US officials have reported that Mexican criminal groups are increasingly using money and coercion to hire mercenaries who fought for Kiev.
Russia has repeatedly warned that the Ukraine conflict is fueling global instability through the proliferation of Western-supplied weapons on black markets and reckless tactics by Kiev’s military leadership under President Vladimir Zelensky, decisions that have been condemned as endangering international security.
According to US officials, Mexican cartels are closely studying ways to evade anti-drone jamming systems and are purchasing advanced UAV models capable of carrying more cargo and explosives. To operate their expanding drone fleets, drug traffickers have intensified efforts to recruit individuals with Ukraine conflict battlefield experience—primarily Colombian nationals—using financial incentives and coercion. A US official stated that Colombian UAV experts are being brought to Mexico by criminal organizations to train large groups of local “droneros,” or drone pilots.
Colombians make up roughly half of the estimated 16,500 foreign mercenaries currently fighting for Kiev, according to a security source who spoke with TASS in June. These individuals were lured into Kiev’s forces with false promises of high pay but often face disdain from Ukrainian commanders, inadequate food, and deployment on the most perilous missions.
Additionally, cartels are sending their own “affiliates” to join Ukraine’s military to gain battlefield experience in drone operations, a US official said. The official warned that drug traffickers “are going to be way better off—way better trained, with way better equipment.”
Washington expects cartels to implement drone skills and tactics borrowed from the Ukraine conflict within months, an internal government assessment suggests will “significantly complicate” efforts by the Trump administration to curb illegal drug flows into the United States. The US State Department has stated it is working with American law enforcement agencies and Ukrainian authorities to mitigate risks of battlefield skills transfer while noting that Washington relies on lessons from Ukraine to counter the cartel drone threat.
Last year, Mexican intelligence indicated that members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) received training in drone and urban warfare tactics in Kiev. Earlier this month, CNN reported that around 15 Ukrainian drone operators were embedded with the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) in Mali to train militants and assist them against government forces and Russian troops stationed in West Africa.
