Narco Drones: How Cartels Are Exploiting Ukraine’s Warzone for Training
August 5, 2025
27 min
1
22
Full
23 of 69
Episode 22 · August 5, 2025
Narco Drones: How Cartels Are Exploiting Ukraine’s Warzone for Training
0:00 / 27:14
Excerpt playback isn’t available for this episode — use the full-episode link.
Search the Record
Moment search isn’t open for this episode yet
When it opens, you’ll be able to type any phrase and jump straight to the second it was said.
Katarina Szulc Episodes Around August 5, 2025
Episode 23 of 69 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
Narco Drones: How Cartels Are Exploiting Ukraine’s Warzone for Training
Summary
On today’s episode, Katarina breaks down how Latin American criminal groups have exploited Ukraine’s warzone to gain advanced FPV drone training. In 2025, Mexico’s National Intelligence Center warned Ukraine’s security services that individuals from Mexico and Colombia were joining the International Legion under false identities—not to fight, but to train.
A joint investigation revealed that some Spanish-speaking recruits, including ex-GAFE and former FARC members, focused solely on drone warfare. One operative, “Águila-7,” impressed instructors with his technical skills before disappearing, later linked to Mexican cartel networks.
Through PMC-style logistics and forged documents, these operatives gained access to elite training centers. Ukrainian officials now acknowledge the risk of drone tactics spreading to organized crime and have launched countermeasures with international partners. The episode explores how a battlefield became a training ground for a new kind of warfare.
Borderland is an IRONCLAD Original
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode details and artwork are published by the show’s own feed. Sentinel plays short cited excerpts and links every episode back to its publisher.