A rescuer works outside a multi-storey residential building damaged in a Russian air attack on Kyiv on August 1, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian strikes on Ukraine’s capital killed at least nine people and wounded more than two dozen others, local officials said, hours after Kyiv’s mayor had warned of a ballistic missile attack. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP)
Russia’s embassy in Colombia issued a denial Wednesday of a report that it had ties to suspected recruitment networks of Colombian mercenaries to aid its war in Ukraine.
The Colombian news outlet Noticias Caracol published an investigation Monday featuring testimony and documents alleging Moscow enlisted Colombians as part of its strategy against Kyiv.
Russia’s diplomatic mission in Colombia dismissed the report, saying Wednesday it had “no relation with the recruiters mentioned in the report, nor the slightest idea of how they finance their activities.”
But family members of Colombians hired to provide security services abroad — mostly retired military personnel — have reported mistreatment of their loved ones in Russia and Ukraine.
