KYIV, Ukraine: Melodic Colombian Spanish fills a hospital treating soldiers wounded fighting Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine’s ranks are depleted by two years of war. As it battles the Russian war machine, Ukraine is welcoming hardened fighters from one of the world’s longest-running conflicts.
Professional soldiers from Colombia bolster the ranks of volunteers from around the world who have answered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for foreign fighters to join his nation’s war with Russia.
A 32-year-old from the city of Medellin was trying to save a colleague wounded in three days of heavy fighting with Russian forces. Russian drones attacked the group and shrapnel from a grenade dropped by one pierced his jawbone.
“I thought I was going to die,” said the man, who goes by the call sign Checho. The fighters insisted on being identified by their military call signs because they feared for their safety and that of their families.
“We got up and decided to run away from the position to save our lives,” Checho said. “There was nowhere to hide.”
Colombia’s military has been fighting drug-trafficking cartels and rebel groups for decades, making its soldiers some of the world’s most experienced.
With a military of 250,000, Colombia has Latin America’s second-largest army, after Brazil’s. More than 10,000 retire each year. And hundreds are heading to fight in Ukraine, where many make four times as much as experienced non-commissioned officers earn in Colombia, or even more.
“Colombia has a large army with highly trained personnel but the pay isn’t great when you compare it to other militaries,” said Andrés Macías of Bogota’s Externado University, who studies Colombian work for military contractors around the world.
Retired Colombian soldiers began to head overseas in the early 2000s to work for US 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.
As the two-year mark in the war approaches, Ukraine’s forces are in a stalemate with Russia’s. Ukraine is now expanding its system allowing people from around the world to join the army, said Oleksandr Shahuri, an officer of the Department of Coordination of Foreigners in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
In early 2022, authorities said 20,000 people from 52 countries were in Ukraine. Now, in keeping with the secrecy surrounding any military numbers, authorities will not say how many are on the battlefield but they do say fighters’ profile has changed.
The first waves of volunteers came mostly from post-Soviet or English-speaking countries. Speaking Russian or English made it easier for them to integrate into Ukraine’s military, Shahuri said.
Last year the military developed an infrastructure of Spanish-speaking recruiters, instructors and junior operational officers, he added.
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.
“They’re like the Latin American migrants who go to the US in search of a better future,” Bernal said. “These are not volunteers who want to defend another country’s flag. They are simply motivated by economic need.”
While generals in Colombia get around $6,000 a month in salaries and bonuses, the same as a government minister, the rank and file gets by on a much more modest income.
Corporals in Colombia get a basic salary of around $400 a month, while experienced drill sergeants can earn up to $900. Colombia’s monthly minimum wage is currently $330.
In Ukraine any member of the armed forces, regardless of citizenship, is entitled to a monthly salary of up to $3,300, depending on their rank and type of service. They are also entitled to up to $28,660 if they are injured, depending on the severity of the wounds. If they are killed in action, their families are due $400,000 compensation.
Checho says principle drove him to travel to Kyiv last September. He estimates that in his unit alone, there were around 100 other fighters from Colombia who had made the same journey.
“I know that there are not many of us, but we try to give the most we have in order to make things happen and to see a change as soon as possible,” he said.
In Colombia, word about recruitment to the Ukrainian army spreads mostly through social media. Some of the volunteers who already fight in Ukraine share insights on the recruitment process on platforms such as TikTok or WhatsApp.
But when something goes wrong, getting information about their loved ones is hard for relatives.
Diego Espitia lost contact with his cousin Oscar Triana after Triana joined the Ukrainian army in August 2023. Six weeks later, the retired soldier from Bogota stopped posting updates on social media.
With no Ukrainian embassy in Bogota, Triana’s family reached out for information from the Ukrainian embassy in Peru and the Colombian consulate in Poland — the last country Triana passed through on his way into Ukraine. Neither responded.
“We want the authorities in both countries to give us information about what happened, to respond to our emails. That is what we are demanding now,” Espitia said.
The Associated Press tracked down a Colombian fighter who uses the call sign Oso Polar — Polar Bear — and says he was the last person to see Triana alive on October 8, 2023. He says Triana’s unit was ambushed by Russian forces in the Kharkiv region, after which his fate was unknown.
The Ukrainian military unit where Triana was serving confirmed to The Associated Press that Triana is officially missing, but would not disclose any details surrounding the circumstances in which he disappeared.
Espitia, his cousin, says he’s not sure what motivated Triana to fight in Ukraine. But the 43-year-old had served in the Colombian army for more than 20 years and leaving it had been “mentally difficult,” Espitia said.
“It could’ve been for the money, or because he missed the adrenaline of being in combat. But he didn’t open up very much about his reasons for going,” Espitia said.
After almost three weeks in the hospital, Checho has returned to Ukraine’s front line. So have more than 50 other Colombian fighters who were treated in the same facility.
“The situation here is hard,” Checho told AP. “We are under constant bombardment, but we will keep fighting.”
Ukraine needs more troops to fight Russia. Hardened professionals from Colombia are helping
https://arab.news/vkj2s
Ukraine needs more troops to fight Russia. Hardened professionals from Colombia are helping

Russia says no quick ‘breakthroughs’ in ‘complex’ Ukraine talks

- “The settlement issue is extremely complex and involves a large number of nuances,” Peskov said
- Zelensky on Tuesday accused Russia of “deliberately” targeting civilians in a rocket attack on the city of Sumy
MOSCOW: Russia on Tuesday said it was wrong to expect a quick breakthrough in Ukraine talks, a day after Moscow rejected Kyiv’s call for an unconditional ceasefire at negotiations in Istanbul.
The sides agreed on a large-scale swap of captured soldiers and exchanged their roadmaps to peace, or so-called “memorandums,” at the discussions, which lasted under two hours.
More than three years into Russia’s offensive — which has killed tens of thousands on both sides and forced millions from their homes in eastern Ukraine — the two sides appear as irreconcilable as ever.
“The settlement issue is extremely complex and involves a large number of nuances,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.
“It would be wrong to expect immediate solutions and breakthroughs,” he added.
Moscow demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of four eastern and southern regions that Moscow claims to have annexed as a precondition to pausing its offensive, according to the document handed to the Ukrainians that was published by Russian state media.
Kyiv had pressed for a full and unconditional ceasefire. Russia instead offered a partial truce of two to three days in some areas of the frontline, its top negotiator said after the talks.
Peskov also dismissed the idea of a summit between the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
“In the near future, it is unlikely,” Peskov told reporters when asked about the chances of the leaders meeting, adding that such a summit could only happen after Russian and Ukrainian negotiators reach an “agreement.”
The White House had said on Monday US President Donald Trump was “open” to the idea, which is also backed by Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Zelensky on Tuesday accused Russia of “deliberately” targeting civilians in a rocket attack on the city of Sumy, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border, that killed three people.
Russian troops have accelerated their advance, seeking to establish what Putin called a “buffer zone” inside Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region.
Zelensky posted a video from the emergency services showing destroyed cars and the body of one victim lying on the road.
The attack “says everything one needs to know about Russia’s so-called ‘desire’ to end this war,” he added, calling for “decisive actions” from the United States and Europe to push Russia into a ceasefire.
“Every day, Russia gives new reasons for tougher sanctions and stronger support for our defense,” he said.
Three people were also killed in a rocket attack in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Moscow’s army said it had captured the village of Andriivka in the Sumy region, located around five kilometers from the Russian border.
Zelensky said last week that Russia was amassing some 50,000 soldiers for an offensive on the region.
Meanwhile Ukraine’s SBU security service claimed it had hit a pillar of the Crimean bridge, linking the annexed peninsula to Russia, with an underwater explosive device.
The extent of the damage was unclear and cars were on Tuesday using the bridge following a temporary closure after the attack.
A delegation of top Ukrainian officials also landed in Washington for talks with US officials on defense and economic issues, including the possibility of new sanctions, Zelensky’s office said.
Trump, who said he could end the conflict swiftly when he returned to the White House in January, has repeatedly expressed anger at both Putin and Zelensky as the fighting drags through its fourth year with no end in sight.
But he has held off from imposing new economic penalties on Moscow.
Magnitude 5.2 earthquake strikes off Crete — EMSC

- The quake was at depth of 17 km
SARAJEVO: A magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck in the sea off the Greek island of Crete on Tuesday but no damage or injuries have been reported, a Fire Service official said.
The quake was at depth of 17 km, 85 km away from the town of Heraklion, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center said.
Ukraine invited to NATO summit in The Hague: Zelensky

VILNIUS: Ukraine has been invited to a NATO summit later in June, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, after earlier warning it would be a “victory” for Russia if it was not there.
The heads of NATO states will gather in The Hague, Netherlands, from June 24-26, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s calls for alliance members to ramp up defense spending set to dominate the agenda.
“We were invited to the NATO summit. I think this is important,” Zelensky said Monday after he held a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Vilnius.
Kyiv is seeking to shore up its support from Europe because of uncertainties over vital military aid under Trump.
Last week Zelensky had said that “if Ukraine is not present at the NATO summit, it will be a victory for Putin, but not over Ukraine, but over NATO.”
Zelensky wants NATO to offer security guarantees to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire or peace deal with Russia — something Moscow has called “unacceptable.”
Support for Israel falling across Western Europe: YouGov

- As little as 20% of respondents in 6 surveyed countries hold positive views of Israel
- Trends mirrored in US polling, with negative sentiment among 53% of Americans
LONDON: Support for Israel in Western Europe has hit an all-time low amid the ongoing war in Gaza, according to YouGov.
Data compiled by the polling firm shows that less than 20 percent of respondents in six countries — Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, Spain and the UK — have a favorable view of Israel, with unfavorable views accounting for 63-70 percent depending on the country.
The range for those surveyed who believe Israel’s actions in Gaza have been “right” and “proportionate” goes from 16 percent in France to as low as 6 percent in Italy. In the UK, 12 percent believe Israel’s response has been proportionate.
The question of whether Israel was right to invade Gaza following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, is slightly higher, with 29 percent of Italians and 40 percent of Germans agreeing. However, 24 percent of Italians and 12 percent of Germans feel that Israel should not have invaded Gaza at all. In the UK, 38 percent feel that the invasion was warranted, with 15 percent disagreeing.
Just 24-25 percent of French, German and Danish respondents feel that Israel has any justification continuing operations in Gaza. The total is 18 percent in the UK and 9 percent in Italy.
The highest number of people on Israel’s “side” in Western Europe is 18 percent in Denmark, while the lowest is Italy at 7 percent.
The lowest polled nation for supporting the Palestinian cause is Germany at 18 percent, while the highest is Spain at 33 percent.
The numbers of respondents believing that Hamas had any justification attacking Israel range from 9 percent to 5 percent. In the UK, the number is 6 percent.
Respondents are pessimistic about the prospects for peace in the region. The French audience is the most optimistic, with 29 percent saying they believe peace is possible in the next decade. At the other end of the spectrum is Denmark with just 15 percent.
The trends mirror polling from outside Europe. In April, Pew Research Center polling found that 53 percent of Americans held a negative view of Israel, up from 44 percent in March 2022.
In addition, Data for Progress found that 51 percent of Americans disagreed with Israeli plans to take full control of Gaza and move Palestinian civilians.
The same percentage said US President Donald Trump should “demand that Israel agree to a ceasefire” in Gaza.
UK govt under pressure from own MPs over Israeli arms exports

- Steve Witherden: ‘We can’t claim to uphold international law while profiting from its breach’
- London previously suspended around 30 weapons export licenses but hundreds remain
London: UK authorities are under pressure to halt arms exports to Israel from MPs within the governing Labour Party.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy suspended around 30 arms export licenses to Israel in September, amid warnings that the weapons could be used to breach international law in Gaza, but hundreds of other licenses remain in place.
During a parliamentary debate on Monday, Labour MP Steve Witherden criticized a lack of transparency on arms exports to Israel, and asked the government to explain what criteria would be needed to enact a broader ban.
He highlighted the UK’s role in the manufacture and export of parts for the F-35 fighter jet, which is used by the Israeli military.
Palestinian rights group Al-Haq has previously said the export license for F-35 parts creates a “carve-out” that gives “rise to a significant risk of facilitating crime” by the Israeli military.
Witherden said: “The foreign secretary’s recent condemnation of Israel’s action as ‘monstrous’ was welcome but incomplete, for my very same government continues to facilitate such actions.
“We can’t have it both ways. We can’t condemn atrocity whilst simultaneously fueling the machinery that enables it. We can’t claim to uphold international law while profiting from its breach.”
He added: “It’s the government’s position that the need to continue to supply F-35 components outweighs the risk of genocide and, if so, is there any circumstance that would lead to the UK stopping that supply?
“The government has claimed that there are red lines that would trigger a halt to exports, but Gaza is already a slaughterhouse.”
Witherden continued: “Children are emaciated or dying of hunger. Hospitals have been intentionally destroyed. Israel’s leaders vow to wipe out Gaza and still the weapons flow.”
He added: “I call on this government to suspend all arms exports to Israel to ensure that no British-made weapons are used in Israel’s brutal plans to annexe, starve and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population.”
Trade Minister Douglas Alexander responded that UK rules prevent sales of F-35 components directly to Israel, but that as part of a global supply network, there are limits on what the UK could do to prevent parts reaching the country.
“Undermining the F-35 program at this juncture would, in the view of the government, disrupt international peace and security, NATO deterrence and European defense as a whole,” Alexander said, adding that he believes Israel’s actions in responding to the “act of barbarism” by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, have been “disproportionate” and “counterproductive to any lasting peace settlement.”
He reminded MPs of the government’s decision to suspend arms licenses shortly after taking office last year.
“This measure is still in place and I’d like to reiterate that, based on our current assessment of potential breaches of international humanitarian law, we aren’t licensing military equipment provided directly to the (Israeli military) that could be used for military operations in Gaza,” he told the House of Commons.
“It’s right to acknowledge that our export licenses granted in relation to Israel cover a wider remit than simply those items that may be used in Gaza.
“There are a relatively small number of licenses for the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) relating to equipment which we assess wouldn’t be used in the current conflict including, for example, parts of air defense systems that defend Israel from acts such as the major aerial attack from Iran in April 2024.
“We also think it’s right for us to continue providing military-grade body armor used by non-governmental organizations and journalists, and to provide parts to the supply chain which are ultimately re-exported back out of Israel to support the defense of our NATO allies.”