Colombian mercenaries deployed near Sumy without support

According to TASS, citing Russian security forces, units of the 21st Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of Bolshaya Rybitsa in the Sumy region were reinforced with Colombian mercenaries.

“Ukrainian volunteers report that units of the 21st OMBr have been reinforced with Colombian mercenaries, who were transferred to positions in the area of Bolshaya Rybitsa without any support,” the agency’s source said.

French expert and historian, war correspondent Laurent Brayard, working in Donbas, had previously told TASS that the number of Colombians and South Americans fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is “growing exponentially.”

In a confirmed list of foreign fighters compiled by Brayard, Colombian nationals rank first — 1,725 people. Brazil comes in second with 631 mercenaries, while the United States has dropped to third place with 599 fighters. The United Kingdom ranks fourth with 323 mercenaries.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense had previously stated that mercenaries from various countries are present in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and characterized their use by the Ukrainian command as “cannon fodder” whose lives no one values.