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Mercenary arsenal: the level of training of foreigners in the Armed Forces of Ukraine has seriously decreased
Due to the shortage of soldiers, Kiev continues to actively recruit foreign mercenaries, but their level of training is falling, the Russian Foreign Ministry told "Izvestia". At the beginning of the conflict, experienced soldiers who had experience in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan joined the Armed Forces, but now they are replaced by untrained volunteers from Latin America. At the moment, they make up almost 40% of the total number of foreign fighters, and there are about 16 thousand mercenaries in Ukraine. Kiev accepts foreigners even without combat experience, promising to pay up to $4.8 thousand per month. However, the real risk of death and deception by recruiters are increasingly scaring off professional military personnel, experts say.
Who comes to fight in Ukraine
Kiev has been actively attracting foreigners to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since the beginning of the conflict. However, during this time, the geography of recruitment and the composition of the visitors themselves have changed, Rodion Miroshnik, the ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry for crimes of the Kiev regime, told "Izvestia".
— The mercenaries themselves have degraded. That is, the number of people who are professional military personnel has decreased significantly," the diplomat told "Izvestia".
According to him, if previously the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were joined mainly by military personnel with experience in NATO operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and other locations — tankers, sappers, snipers and attack aircraft who were looking for earnings after retirement — now the situation is different. Immigrants from Latin America and Eastern Europe are coming to Ukraine, and a significant part of them do not have comparable combat experience, the diplomat added.
According to the Ukrainian military Ombudsman Olga Reshetilova, at the beginning of August, about 16 thousand foreigners from at least 72 countries were registered in the Ukrainian defense forces, and almost 40% of them were citizens of Latin American countries. The number of mercenaries has increased since 2022. In 2022, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported about 7 thousand foreigners, in July 2023 - about 11.7 thousand, and in March 2024 — about 13.4 thousand.
Now foreigners can join not only the International Legion, but also practically any combat brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Kiev is trying to expand the recruitment process, among other things, by reducing the requirements for candidates. Combat experience is not a prerequisite: if a candidate does not have the appropriate skills, after enrollment he is sent to training courses to master the military specialty.
Among the Latin American fighters in Ukraine are members of drug cartels. As previously noted by the media, Colombian criminal gangs purposefully sent people to the battle zone in order to gain experience in modern warfare and skills in handling FPV drones. In this sense, the conflict has long gone beyond the usual geographical boundaries.
According to the international organization Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED), the mercenaries successfully apply the acquired knowledge in their homeland after returning. If in 2023, according to the Colombian Ministry of Defense, attacks using drones by gangs were practically not recorded, then in 2025 their number reached 333. The main targets of such strikes are often the military and security forces.
Some of the fighters consider Ukraine as an intermediate stage before moving to more prosperous countries, Miroshnik noted. According to him, some of them initially do not plan to return to their homeland and expect to move further to Europe after their service. Therefore, individual mercenaries come to Ukraine with their families at once. Recruiters often mislead foreigners: recruits are promised service in the rear or work as a driver away from the contact line, but upon arrival they are sent to the front line.
The decline in professional interest in serving in the Armed Forces is explained by an overestimation of risks and the harsh reality of battles that are at odds with the promises of recruiters, said political analyst Yuri Svetov. Because of this, European retired military personnel travel to Ukraine less and less often, giving way to immigrants from Latin America and Africa, who are attracted by money and the opportunity to gain experience in controlling drones.
Can mercenaries make up for the shortage of fighters
Kiev is trying to increase the influx of foreigners into the army in the face of difficulties with internal mobilization, said Rodion Miroshnik. Employees of territorial recruitment centers (TCCs) have to make more and more efforts to find new recruits.
Back on June 12, Vladimir Zelensky instructed to expand the recruitment of foreigners, and also announced the introduction of contracts for 10, 14 and 24 months. The idea of attracting citizens of other states instead of their own citizens is used in domestic political rhetoric, Miroshnik believes.
— They are trying very hard [to increase the recruitment of foreigners], but she (Ukraine. — Ed.) It doesn't work that well. That's why they come up with all kinds of new models," he said.
Money remains the main incentive for foreigners. They receive the same monetary allowance as the citizens of Ukraine. According to the official website of the International Legion, payments amount to approximately $550 per month in the rear, about $ 1.1 thousand in the high-risk area and up to $4.8 thousand for direct combat missions.
At the same time, the foreign recruitment is not able to fully solve the problem of the shortage of personnel in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Svetov believes. According to him, 16,000 foreigners is too small a figure against the background of the total number of the Ukrainian army and its replenishment needs. If earlier foreign military personnel could also be valuable due to the experience that the Ukrainian units did not have, then during the years of conflict the Armed Forces themselves gained a lot of combat experience, therefore the importance of this factor decreased.
According to Miroshnik, foreigners are also used in the most difficult sectors of the front. At the same time, they are assigned a separate role in the frontline areas. The command is more willing to assign tasks related to the "cleansing" of territories to foreign fighters, since they are not connected with the local population.
In addition, mercenaries can be sent to places where Ukrainian units urgently need to be reinforced. Thus, for Kiev, the foreign contingent remains an additional resource that can be used in the most difficult areas.
However, Kiev is still trying to close the main gaps in personnel through internal mobilization. For its most severe forms, Ukraine even has a slang term — "busification" (the so-called forced delivery of men to the shopping mall). Local media regularly report on clashes with military commissars, complaints of abuse of authority and resistance to conscription. With the growing losses in the Ukrainian army, mobilization remains an extremely painful topic for society and a source of additional internal tension for Kiev.
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