Russian Foreign Ministry says number of Colombian mercenaries in Ukraine has increased

Russia is receiving more and more evidence of the presence of a significant number of foreign mercenaries in Ukraine fighting on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for crimes of the Kiev regime, told Izvestiya.

"Now, in particular, the number of Colombian mercenaries fighting on the Ukrainian side is increasing. Moreover, there are quite a lot of them. It is possible that this is due to the fight in their homeland with drug cartels: fighters who are left without work get into the structures engaged in recruiting in the interests of Kiev. And they are sent to fight in Ukraine," he emphasized.

He noted that Ukraine is forced to attract more and more foreigners, which may be connected with high losses in the AFU and poor military training of the forcibly mobilized.

Rodion Miroshnyk added that in addition to Colombians, whole units of Polish mercenaries are present in Ukraine. Militants from the Georgian Legion, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in the Russian Federation, are also active.

"The Ukrainian side is certainly hiding all this - they tend not to demonstrate that they are using foreign mercenaries. They are more inclined to talk about volunteers, camouflaging fighters fighting for money on their side," the diplomat noted.

Earlier, Colombian Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said that Moscow and Bogota will create a group that will analyze the situation with Colombian mercenaries detained by the Russian FSB.

Read more in the exclusive material of Izvestia:

Combat slavery: more and more Colombians are involved in the conflict in Ukraine