Colombian combat veterans are signing up for the war in Ukraine mainly for the pay, and experts say the drone skills they bring home are valuable to Colombia’s criminal organizations.
DR reported on August 16 that battle-hardened Colombian veterans are volunteering for Ukrainian units for financial reasons. Their new experience with drones can become a resource for armed groups back home, according to anthropologist Erin McFee, founder and chief executive of the Corioli Institute.
McFee told DR that active combat service in Ukraine can pay up to around 27,000 Danish kroner a month. Colombian professional soldiers are offered roughly 4,000 kroner monthly. Soldiers of the lowest rank must serve at least 20 years to qualify for a pension of about 2,800 kroner a month.
According to McFee, returning veterans can be offered up to 2,500 dollars by criminal organizations for a single day of drone-operator instruction. She stressed that she cannot verify that figure. She also said only a handful of experienced people is needed to change the technological picture for the cartels.
Drone use inside Colombia has risen sharply. Based on ACLED data analyzed by The Guardian, one drone attack was recorded in 2023, 38 in 2024 and 149 in 2025. Colombia’s Defence Ministry counts zero in 2023, 61 in 2024 and 333 in 2025.
The two counts use different methods but point the same way. ACLED notes that by 2025 almost all major Colombian armed groups were using militarized drones. Most attacks hit police, army patrols and rival groups, with a growing share affecting civilians.
On August 6, 2026, then defence minister Pedro Sánchez filed a bill in Congress to limit drone use. El Tiempo reports the ministry lodged four draft laws, including a framework to control the import and use of drones and counter-drone systems. Another proposal would improve benefits for veterans and members of the security forces.
Per Radio Santa Fe, Sánchez said more than 320 soldiers and civilians have been victims of attacks with commercial drones over the past two years. He framed the bill as a response to those attacks.
DR cites the Financial Times, which found that the drone expertise gained in Ukraine is attractive to groups fighting the Colombian state. Infobae, citing the same reporting, says up to 500 Colombian veterans have been killed in Ukraine since the 2022 Russian invasion. That figure is an estimate based on journalistic sources.
Colombia’s own forces are behind, according to DR. The army established its first drone battalion only in October 2025. McFee said Colombians have told her that soldiers in the field receive ordinary rifles rather than the shotguns used to bring down drones.
