Ukrainian counterintelligence services are investigating the infiltration of Latin American drug cartel members into the country's International Legion, with operatives seeking advanced drone training to later deploy against rivals and security forces in their home countries. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) launched a joint investigation with military intelligence after Mexico's National Intelligence Center warned in early summer that Mexican volunteers had joined Ukraine's foreign fighter units specifically to acquire first-person view (FPV) drone capabilities. The probe has since expanded to include Colombian nationals, raising concerns about Ukraine's inadvertent role as a training ground for transnational criminal organizations. Mexican drug cartels have been using FPVs to drop hand grenades on their enemies, including killing some luckless Mexican soldiers.
Competent and experienced Ukrainian counterintelligence agents will discover the cartel spies and render them ineffective. Since these Mexicans or Colombians came as so-called eager volunteers to help Ukraine, their vetting may have been a bit lax which the SBU won't repeat in the future. The war in Ukraine has been a testing and learning ground for many new weapons and technologies, much like how the Great Powers tested new weapons and tactics during the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).
