Colombia has recorded 173 citizens dead and 670 missing in the Russia-Ukraine war, the most detailed official accounting yet of a conflict that has turned the South American country into one of the largest sources of foreign fighters in Eastern Europe, according to figures released by the Foreign Ministry and reported by El Tiempo.

The ministry said 502 Colombians are listed as missing in Ukraine. Of those, 446 were officially declared missing in combat by the Ukrainian armed forces, while relatives reported a further 56 cases after losing contact with family members. In Russia, Colombian consular authorities are tracking 168 nationals reported missing in connection with the war.

Official records show 140 Colombians have died in Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022. Authorities said 130 bodies have been repatriated, while the remainder are either awaiting return or remain in the conflict zone at the request of relatives. Russia has separately confirmed the deaths of 33 Colombian citizens, according to information provided to Colombian diplomats.

The toll is likely an undercount. The Foreign Ministry cautioned that the true number of Colombians involved could be higher, as many travel independently to conflict zones without notifying consular authorities.

The figures give official weight to what researchers and human rights groups have long described as an extraordinary export of combat labour. More than 7,000 Colombians have served in Ukraine since 2022, according to an investigation by the Ukrainian publication NV, with Ukrainian brigades now covering travel costs given the acute demand for frontline personnel. Colombians account for an estimated 40% of all foreigners serving with Ukrainian forces, according to Ukrainian military sources, making Colombia the single largest contributor of foreign fighters to Kyiv's front lines.

Colombia fields Latin America's second-largest army, after Brazil's, with a force of 250,000 and more than 10,000 retirements each year, creating a steady outflow of trained personnel into a saturated civilian market. "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 Bogotá's Externado University, who studies Colombian work for military contractors around the world, according to VOA. A retired officer can expect a pension of roughly $700 a month. Frontline pay in Ukraine runs from $3,000 to $5,000, with a potential $25,000 signing bonus and a $350,000 death benefit.

However, the conflict is also pulling fighters from the region to Russia's side of the front. An international report presented in Kyiv in late April, produced by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) alongside Truth Hounds and the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights, estimates that between 1,000 and 8,000 Latin Americans are fighting for Moscow, many having been deceived into service. Cuba, a close Kremlin ally, leads Latin American recruitment, with at least 20,000 citizens reportedly deployed since 2023.

Colombia's 2016 peace agreement with the Farc guerrilla group left a large pool of seasoned counterinsurgency specialists underemployed. Most soldiers retire by 45, often in their late thirties, with limited civilian prospects in a saturated private security market. That combination of extensive combat experience and constrained economic options has made Colombian veterans attractive recruits for foreign military contractors and armed forces on both sides of the conflict.

Recruitment methods differ between the two sides. Colombians fighting for Ukraine typically enlist directly with military units or through intermediaries, while those serving Russia are often approached by private companies before signing contracts with the Russian Defence Ministry.

Ukraine is not the only theatre drawing veterans from Colombia. Up to 380 Colombians have been deployed to Sudan since 2024, serving alongside the Rapid Support Forces in a unit known as the Desert Wolves, according to an investigation by the Colombian outlet La Silla Vacía. "Colombians are excellent value," Sean McFate, a professor at the National Defense University in Washington, told Middle East Eye. "They have a lot of combat experience and they're very good warriors. They obey chains of command, have good discipline, and cost a quarter of what an American mercenary would cost."

Bogotá has responded with criminalisation rather than structural reform. Colombia's Congress ratified the 1989 UN Convention against mercenarism in December 2025, though legal experts warn the legislation does not apply to Colombians formally enrolled in Ukraine's regular armed forces, who receive equivalent pay to local soldiers. Bogotá is also advancing a dedicated bill to penalise participation in foreign conflicts. Researchers at Bogotá's Universidad del Rosario warn that prohibition without investment in reintegration risks turning returning veterans into stigmatised, legally exposed individuals, and prime recruits for criminal organisations seeking drone-warfare expertise.