Colombian and Polish Contractor Units Bolster Ukrainian Forces in Sumy

Speaking to Russian state media, a Russian Armed Forces officer has provided details on the composition of adversary forces in the Sumy region, at a time of intensifying hostilities as Russian Army units have advanced within 20 kilometres of the regional capital. Contractors from Colombia and Poland have been reported to be playing a particularly important role in the theatre. “Naturally, foreign mercenaries, too, are active in the Sumy direction. They are mostly illegal Colombian workers, and there are also nationals of other Latin American countries,” the officer noted, adding that there were also “natives of Great Britain, Poland and even Japan” involved. Foreign forces have played a central role in the Ukrainian war effort from its outset in February 2022, including not only contractors, but also active duty personnel such as the British Royal Marines, as well as ideological volunteer units such as the Georgian Legion and Polish Volunteer Corps. Although British volunteers have played significant roles in units such as the Georgian Legion, while volunteer combatants from Japan and South Korea have been involved in hostilities in limited numbers, the bulk of personnel contributions have come from Eastern European and Latin American states.

The significant presence of foreign contractors has been reported from multiple battlefields in the Russian-Ukrainian War, with their roles ranging from supporting the use of complex new weaponry provided by Ukraine’s supporters in the Western world, to frontline combat operations. The importance of specialist contractors providing support with technology has grown Western armaments in the Ukrainian inventory has expanded, ranging from Patriot missile systems to Abrams tanks which there has not been sufficient time to train Ukrainian personnel to use fully independently. Contractors intended for frontline operations have also seen their roles grow as Ukraine has faced growing manpower shortages due to the extreme losses suffered by its conscript units. The outsized role of Polish contractors in the war reflects Warsaw’s disproportionate investment in the conflict among NATO members, with the country having taken a particularly hard line against the possibility of negotiations with Russia, while having emerged as the leading supplier of main battle tanks to the Ukrainian Army among a wide range of other equipment.

The Russian Armed Forces have consistently singled out Western personnel in the Ukrainian theatre for precision strikes, with a notable example being a strike on the headquarters of European contractors, predominantly of French origin, on January 16, 2024, which caused at least 80 casualties 60 or more of which were killed. These personnel were “highly trained specialists who work on specific weapons systems too complex for the average Ukrainian conscripts,” according to Russian state media reports, with their neutralisation having “put some of the most lethal and long-range weapons in the Ukrainian arsenal out of service until more specialists are found” to replace them. While contractors from Western Europe and the United States have provided such support with complex armaments, those from lower income states such as Poland, Colombia, Georgia and much of Latin America have been relied on more heavily for frontline combat operations. Colombian military contractors have supported multiple war efforts against Western adversaries, ranging from the war against the Ansuruallah Coalition in Yemen in the 2010s, to their deployment to supportthe current insurgency against the Sudanese government.