MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Colombian and Mexican drug cartels are sending their gunmen to fight on Ukraine's side to gain frontline combat experience, Vasily Prozorov, a former SBU (Ukrainian security service) officer and founder of the UkrLeaks investigation center, said at a TASS press conference dedicated to the release of his new book, Ukraine: Hired Killers – Dogs of War Fed by Kiev.
"Drug cartels – Colombian and Mexican – are sending them to Ukraine to gain combat experience, because that is the future," Prozorov said, adding that the cartels are primarily interested in experience regarding the use of drones.
According to him, after gaining experience, the gunmen return to Latin American countries with weapons that had been supplied to Ukraine by Western nations. Upon their return, they receive substantial bonuses from the cartels for the knowledge acquired in Ukraine.
"There have already been recorded instances of government helicopters in Colombia, for example, were shot down not by heavy machine guns or man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), but by FPV drones operated by citizens of those countries who had gained combat experience in Ukraine," Prozorov added.
Polish special forces officers also participated in combat operations on Ukraine's side; according to SBU documents, they returned home and reported to their command that Poland was lagging significantly behind in the development of FPV drones.
