Page Text: Latin American Foreign Fighters in Ukraine
www.militantwire.com
Photo credit: War Noir
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The Ukrainian-Russian conflict has become the first war to be widely broadcasted on TikTok from its onset, with a steady flow of videos taken on the ground and shared on the application. On one hand, this has provided comparatively greater transparency, but it has also created operational security issues through the disclosure of military positions, which has had disastrous consequences.
A reported case of the latter was the Russian missile attack on the Yavoriv base , a former NATO training site that was used as a staging ground for foreign volunteer fighters, on March 13 in Lviv, 25 kilometers from the Polish border.
"The Legion was wiped out in one fell swoop," said a surviving Ukrainian volunteer fighter and Brazilian shooting instructor Tiago Rossi in an emotional Twitter video taken soon after the strike as he fled to Poland. "I didn't know what a war was."
According to Ukrinform , Ukraine reported 35 deaths and 134 injured. "Unfortunately, we lost more heroes: 35 people were killed in the airstrike on the Peacekeeping and Security Center. Another 134, with injuries of varying degrees, are now in hospitals," the Lviv Regional Military Administration said .
Colonel Fernando Montenegro of the Brazilian Army spoke to CNN about the unprofessional behavior of volunteers like Tiago Rossi, whom he described as "likes hunters" with no military expertise.
According to Montenegro, "fame-seeking" and inexperienced volunteers gave interviews to television stations and YouTube channels and posted on social media, allowing the Russians to trace their whereabouts, including the military base that was later assaulted.
"They published several posts from the base, and when there were as many people as possible gathered, the Russians unleashed missiles, destroying everything. Narcissism is also deadly," said the colonel.
Dozens of foreign fighters from Latin America have joined the International Legion of the Defense of Ukraine . Nationals of Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador , Argentina , Chile , Peru , Mexico , and various Cuban exiles are most involved, accounting for both professional and amateur volunteer soldiers.
At least 50 former Colombian military personnel have gone to fight in Ukraine, according to the Colombian newspaper El Espectador . These come from a pool of highly qualified individuals that have helped Colombia's contractor industry thrive. The first company to launch in Bogota was US Blackwater, which dispatched 7,000 former Colombian military soldiers to Dubai. In addition, due to the 50-year conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the Colombian military has acquired specific training in explosives management.
Before leaving for Ukraine, one of them told El Espectador that Ukrainian authorities would have paid his group a salary to fight. Still, they would have had to fund their transportation from Colombia to the Polish border.
According to El Espectador , a smaller group of 15 Colombian ex-military members then went on on an individual and unpaid basis "simply for the pride of defending a country under attack," hoping to be rewarded with a new nationality for themselves and their families.
After the raid on the Yavoriv base, a Peruvian fighter named César Pérez, who was initially thought to be dead, fled to Poland. Outraged, he explained in a video how his base had ceased providing him with ammo and other war-fighting supplies. "At the base, there was a lack of discipline, organization, and logistics. We were not provided with jackets, helmets, or ammunition." As he had stated , "the indignation and despair of President Zelensky who is appealing for foreign soldiers' help" inspired him to join the conflict.
The Ukrainian army has also said that Mexican volunteers have entered the war, and images have been posted showing some of them on the battlefield.
Mexican volunteer fighter in Ukraine
Estimating how many Brazilian volunteers are fighting alongside the Ukrainians is difficult, but the number is unlikely to exceed a dozen. In terms of their arms, weapons analyst War Noir noted that, based on the limited available imagery, Brazilian fighters have seemingly obtained more modern guns as of late, moving from common Kalashnikovs used in early March to weapons such as the CZ-806 BREN-2 automatic rifle that is made in Czechia.