Ukraine needs more troops fighting Russia. Hardened professionals from Colombia are helping

Lee Duna@lemmy.nz to World News@lemmy.world – 234 points –
Ukraine needs more troops fighting Russia. Hardened professionals from Colombia are helping
apnews.com
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This is the best summary I could come up with:


Professional soldiers from Colombia bolster the ranks of volunteers from around the world who have answered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s call for foreign fighters to join his nation’s war with Russia.

Retired Colombian soldiers began to head overseas in the early 2000s to work for U.S. military contractors protecting infrastructure including oil wells in Iraq.

Retired members of Colombia’s military have also been hired as trainers in the United Arab Emirates and joined in Yemen’s battle against Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Colombia’s role as a recruiting ground for the global security industry also has its murkier, mercenary corners: Two Colombians were killed and 18 were arrested after they were accused of taking part in the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

At the military hospital normally treating wounded Ukrainian soldiers, a group of about 50 Colombian fighters spend most of their time staring at their phone screens — calling home, browsing the internet and listening to music in between meals and medical procedures, most for light injuries.

Hector Bernal, a retired ex-combat medic who runs a center for tactical medicine outside Bogota, says that in the last eight months he’s trained more than 20 Colombians who went on to fight in Ukraine.


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Depleted? That doesn't sound good.

They have been fighting against stronger enemies with nuclear forces, if they weren't depleted I would be shocked. Hell, they haven't been erased from the world map is an achievement in itself.

By themselves they would lose the war in a matter of months.

The issue is dwindling support from NATO countries that leaves the country without much needed guns and ammunition.

If I was still in shape, I'd be over there. Might be if all goes well.

I see no point in fighting and dying on foreign soil.

Don't worry that is what keyboard warriors doing on internet, bragging.

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