Colombian cartels seek drone warfare expertise in Ukraine: Report

Berk Kutay Gokmen

Colombian drug cartels and rebel groups are allegedly sending fighters to Ukraine to learn advanced drone warfare techniques before deploying them back home, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Citing interviews with Colombian volunteers, aid workers and Ukrainian officials, the newspaper said some Colombians who fought alongside Ukrainian forces had links to organized crime, while illegal armed groups have increasingly sought battlefield expertise developed during the war with Russia.

Taras Palianytsia, of Ukraine’s Foreign Recruiting Centre, told the daily that the individuals with links to organized crime were identified and “sent home.”

“The recruitment schemes are very complex, but what worries me most is the level of specialization they’re acquiring,” said a Colombian aid worker in Ukraine. “Former paramilitaries, former guerrillas and former soldiers are fighting and learning together here how to operate drones.”

The report said drones have transformed Colombia’s decades-long conflict much as they have reshaped the battlefield in Ukraine, allowing armed groups to challenge the military’s traditional control of the air.

Drone strikes by Colombian armed groups increased from none in 2023 to 333 in 2025, according to Colombia’s Defense Ministry.

“The drone industry has exploded and criminals have adapted the technology for attacks, which is a major challenge to battlefield aerial supremacy,” outgoing Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez told the Financial Times.

Colombia’s military has battled drug cartels and guerrilla groups for decades in a conflict that claimed an estimated 450,000 lives between 1958 and 2016.