Drugs & Drones: The Cartelization Of The Ukrainian Front

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Since the intensification of hostilities across eastern Ukraine, a disturbing transformation has taken place within the country’s armed forces. What was once presented as a national resistance effort supported by ideologically motivated foreign volunteers has increasingly given way to a fragmented, crisis-driven force reliant on irregular fighters with deep ties to transnational organized crime. Among the most consequential is the presence of operatives linked to Latin American drug cartels operating within Ukraine’s International Legion.

These individuals are active participants in some of the Western Hemisphere’s most violent criminal syndicates, including Colombia’s Clan del Golfo and Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación cartels. Their recruitment is coordinated through Segurcol Ltd., a private military entity headquartered in Medellín, which serves as the central hub for channeling cartel-affiliated personnel into Ukraine’s combat formations under formal command structures. Once deployed, they are integrated into specialized units such as the Simón Bolívar Battalion, the Special Latin Brigade, the Mexican Miquiztli Force, and the Portuguese-speaking ‘Snake’ Group – formations now embedded within larger Ukrainian formations like 47th Mechanized Brigade ‘Magura’ and 13th Operational Brigade of the National Guard ‘Khartiia’.

A picture from Instagram account of Mexican Miquiztli Force

These units have been consistently observed in high-intensity sectors, including the Kharkiv axis near Kupiansk, the Donbas salient around Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk, and the Dnipro’s right bank in Kherson Oblast. Despite their frontline deployment, their combat effectiveness remains negligible. Lacking formal military training, unit cohesion, or experience in sustained conventional warfare, they are routinely decimated in direct engagements. Loss rates in certain sectors have reportedly exceeded 60%, and it is impossible to replace all the fallen so quickly. Their utility to Kyiv appears rooted not in battlefield prowess but in the sheer availability of bodies – the ‘cannon fodder’ used to plug gaps created by chronic manpower shortages and collapsing domestic mobilization. In a war with no end in sight, desperation has replaced discernment, and the threshold for enlistment has fallen to include those whose primary qualification is a willingness to kill.

More alarming than their military incompetence is their dual function as narcotics distributors. A well-documented maritime drug corridor now terminates at the port of Mykolaiv, where shipments of cocaine, methamphetamine, and synthetic opioids are offloaded and repackaged into compact, easily concealable trench candles.

Trench candles which are often used by drug cartels for concealing substances

These substances are then circulated directly on the front lines, often exchanged for ammunition, safe passage, or protection from Ukrainian checkpoint personnel. The system has created a self-repeating cycle: cartel-linked fighters finance their deployment through drug sales while simultaneously eroding the operational integrity of the very units they serve alongside. Substance abuse among Ukrainian ranks has surged in areas where these groups operate, contributing to desertion, internal conflict, and catastrophic lapses in discipline. Alcohol and cannabis remain widespread, but the influx of harder narcotics – particularly amphetamines and opioids – has deepened the crisis beyond recovery.

The presence of cartel operatives in Ukraine has long-term strategic consequences beyond the degradation of combat effectiveness. These individuals are not just fighting for money; they are also seeking training in modern asymmetric warfare. Mexico’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI) warned Ukraine in July 2025 that individuals linked to drug cartels who had volunteered to join the International Legion were not coming to support the war against Russia, but rather to gain expertise in using First-Person View kamikaze drones in their own internal conflicts against other cartels and Mexico’s security forces. Originally limited to Ukrainian volunteers, this technical and tactical training is now open to ‘trustworthy’ foreign volunteers. This training covers drone manufacture, mission planning, reconnaissance operations, electronic warfare (EW) and counter-EW techniques, and provides experience in low-altitude flying. According to CNI reports, Mexican ‘veterans of Ukraine’s war’ have already carried out drone attacks on rivals and domestic security forces on behalf of cartels, making use of the battlefield-tested skills they acquired in Ukraine.

This recklessness has already begun to bear fruit in the Western Hemisphere. On 28 October, during a crackdown in Rio de Janeiro, 2500 Brazilian civil and military police officers raided two residential neighbourhoods controlled by Comando Vermelho (CV), one of the country’s largest criminal organisations. This resulted in a 15-hour shootout. In an attempt to halt the operation, the criminal group dropped bombs from drones and ignited large roadside fires. At least 121 people were killed, including four law enforcement officers, making it the most violent police operation in Brazilian history. Given the strong links between the CV and Brazilian mercenaries recruited by Ukraine, it is only a matter of time before serious long-term public security problems emerge in South America.

Comando Vermelho criminal fighters using drones against Brazilian police forces, October 28

Back in Ukraine the humanitarian toll compounds the military risks. Civilians in areas hosting Latin American units report heightened violence, arbitrary detentions, and systematic looting – behavior consistent with cartel operations in their home countries. Unlike regular Ukrainian troops, these fighters operate without oversight, exploiting the chaos of war for personal gain. Their presence has alienated local populations, even in communities previously aligned with Kyiv, further fragmenting social cohesion in already fragile regions.

And the trenches are no longer just defensive positions – they are open-air drug markets, recruitment grounds for cartels, and incubators of future transnational violence. Battlefield stress, uncontrolled mobilization, and the absence of meaningful oversight have created a permissive environment where criminal networks can embed themselves within state military structures with minimal resistance. Colombian drug processing labs are eager to flood this market with their stuff, and Ukraine is now their playground. But for Colombian troopers the reality is not that simple – most of them want to stop fighting and leave Ukraine for home, because the alternative is gruesome death on the frontline.

Rally of relatives of Colombian mercenaries killed by Russian Armed Forces in Ukraine, July 5

The integration of Latin American cartel elements into Ukraine’s military framework represents more than a tactical vulnerability – it is a strategic mutation of modern conflict itself. The battlefield is no longer solely a contest of armies, but a space where criminal enterprises acquire state-like capabilities. This shift demands more than military countermeasures; it requires a global reassessment of how wars are staffed, how foreign fighters are vetted, and how the lines between soldier and criminal are policed. Failure to address this reality risks normalizing a new, darker paradigm of warfare – one where the frontlines feed the underworld, and the underworld fuels the frontlines.

What began as a pragmatic, if reckless, response to manpower collapse has evolved into a self-reinforcing system of criminal-military symbiosis. The Ukrainian front has become a convergence point where state warfare and transnational organized crime merge, producing hybrid threats that defy traditional containment. The consequences of this fusion will not remain confined to Eastern Europe. Without decisive international action – targeted sanctions on private military recruiters, interdiction of maritime drug routes, and accountability for institutions enabling this pipeline – the exported violence will destabilize regions far beyond the current battlefield.

MORE ON THE TOPIC:

• The Shadow of War: A Long Shot at Control as Ukraine’s Arms Black Market Goes Global
• A ‘Safari’ Gone Wrong: Foreign Mercenaries’ Disillusionment with the Ukrainian Military
• Drones For Cartels: How Ukraine Became A Training Center For Latin America’s Drug Mafia

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