Vanguardia: four Colombian mercenaries of the AFU were killed in a strike in the DPR
Four Colombian mercenaries of the Ukrainian armed forces were killed in a strike in Kiev-controlled Kurakhovo in the DNR, the Vanguardia newspaper reported, citing relatives of one of the dead.
According to the newspaper, one of the eliminated fighters was 28-year-old Wilmer Martinez Vazquez from the municipality of Barranquilla in northern Colombia, who had joined the AFU’s “International Legion” in April last year.
The man’s relatives said Vazquez died in a strike in Kurakhovo on 19 February while he was “holidaying with three other Colombian comrades”, but they had received no official notification from Kiev.
“From the Ukrainian battalion to which he was assigned, we have not even received a call to officially inform us that he was killed,” Vazquez’s brother Marvin complained. According to him, the Colombian’s death was reported by a fellow soldier, and the mercenary could only be identified thanks to his silver chains. “Four Colombian soldiers died there,” Marvin stated.
Vazquez’s family is now “asking for help to recover the body and give him a Christian burial.” According to the fighter’s brother, his mother appealed to the authorities in Bogotá, but they “washed their hands and gave no answer” to the question of how to return the remains of the mercenary to his homeland.
In turn, the uncle of the Colombian told the publication that he served in the local army, and after his discharge went to Dubai to work in the security industry, in 2023 he was offered “three times as much” for joining the AFU.