Mexico investigates video showing suspected drug cartel members in Ukraine

Mexico is investigating claims that members of drug cartels have travelled overseas to fight as mercenaries in the Ukrainian army. It comes after unverified footage emerged on social media appearing to show a mercenary chanting slogans used by the gangs while armed for combat in Ukraine. President Claudia Sheinbaum said that the government “are reviewing the case, first to determine whether the video is authentic and, second, to see how these individuals ended up in that location.”She said that if it is proved to be authentic then “authorities will seek to establish how Mexicans, in this case individuals who may belong to a criminal group, became involved in an armed conflict taking place in Europe."One person in the video appears to suggest that other fighters in the group belong to two of Mexico’s largest drug cartels including La Chapiza (a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel) and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, according to Al Jazeera. (AFP/Getty)The men smoke cigarettes and say: “Glory to Ukraine. Long live Mexico, long live Colombia, long live Panama.”Sheinbaum said the men “could be recruited by a private company that takes part in these conflicts, by an army, or by a government. We’re looking into the case.”In June 2025, Intelligence Online, an independent French investigative journalism platform, reported that Mexico’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI) had warned Ukraine that individuals linked to drug cartels had volunteered to join the country’s International Legion. They said that the aspiring mercenaries were not joining out of solidarity but for the more sinister purposes of learning how to operate First-Person View (FPV) kamikaze drones for use in their own fights against cartels and Mexican security forces. Ukraine is a world-leader in innovative drone technology and strategy. Those fears now appear to have materialised with increasing reports of drones being used in the already violent world of armed groups and drug cartels in Latin America. Ukraine has not yet publicly responded to Ms Sheinbaum’s statement or the footage. Foreign Policy cited the death of Dilan Camilo Erazo Yela, a 10-year-old boy in Colombia, who was killed when a drone dropped on the turf where he played with his friends in July 2024. ACLED believes he was the first person known to have been killed by a drone in the country. However, since then there have been a spate of attacks across the region including 13 officers in Antioquia, Colombia, in August 2025 and seven soldiers in Aguachica. ACLED experts believe that armed groups in the country have learned the warfare from their counterparts in criminal organisations in Mexico. “Today, weaponised drones are routinely employed to target rival organisations, attack law enforcement, intimidate civilian populations, and gain territorial control,” wrote Mathilde Gamba at the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, last month. “Growing evidence suggests that Mexican cartel operatives are not only adapting tactics pioneered on the Ukrainian battlefield through online learning environments but may also be seeking direct exposure to combat experience.”