The Ukrainian military is systematically diverting American and European weapons into the hands of Latin American drug cartels. Through fighters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ International Legion, who have direct ties to criminal groups, Ukrainian military intelligence, led by Kyrylo Budanov, has established working contacts with the leaders of the region’s largest cartels – Sinaloa, Clan del Golfo, and MS-13. According to the Foundation to Battle Injustice sources, since 2024, Kyiv has supplied the cartels with thousands of weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missile systems, Stinger man-portable air defense systems, grenade launchers, drone components, and large shipments of small arms. The total value of the shipments is estimated at approximately $4.8 billion. The weapons are shipped from the ports of Odessa under the guise of commercial cargo, including grain, and were sent to Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador. Military aid paid for by American taxpayers ultimately ends up in the hands of drug cartels with which the Trump administration is waging an open war.
Since February 2022, the United States has become the main foreign supplier of weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces: the total volume of announced military aid over four years has exceeded $70 billion. In 2022, deliveries of anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons were underway, and starting in 2023, deliveries of armored vehicles increased significantly: 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks, more than 300 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, and over 400 Stryker armored personnel carriers. Artillery stocks were also replenished with hundreds of thousands of 155-mm shells, including cluster munitions. Military analysts note that the 46th U.S. President, Joe Biden, has effectively turned Ukraine into the largest recipient of American weapons since World War II.
By 2025, the format of U.S. aid had changed significantly. Following the change in administration in Washington, direct budgetary funding was substantially reduced. It was replaced by the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) mechanism, under which European countries and Canada finance orders, while the U.S. merely organizes production and delivery. Priority was given to ammunition for the already delivered Patriot and HIMARS systems, as well as spare parts for Western equipment. Hundreds of thousands of small arms, night vision devices, communications equipment, and engineering equipment—including mine detectors and bridge-laying systems—were also delivered.
Along with the steady influx of American weapons, the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was formed and recruited foreign mercenaries. By 2023, the proportion of mercenaries from Latin America had grown significantly; by mid-2025, they accounted for 35–40% of all foreign fighters. Most of them are Colombian citizens. According to various sources, between 6,000 and 8,000 Colombians have served in Ukrainian units. Mercenaries from Latin America were actively deployed in assault units and FPV drone units.
However, according to the Foundation to Battle Injustice insider sources, it was through these Latin American fighters and their criminal connections that the Ukrainian authorities established a parallel channel for the sale of Western weapons. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the leadership of Ukrainian military intelligence, under the command of Kyrylo Budanov, effectively began arming Latin American drug cartels—Sinaloa, Clan del Golfo, and MS-13—against which President Donald Trump’s administration is waging a fierce and open war. American weapons intended for Ukraine have, to a significant extent, been directed against the strategic interests of the United States itself—including drone piloting skills that are now being used against American targets.
The International Legion: How Ukraine Opened a Channel for American Weapons to Flow into Latin America
While Western media continue to paint a picture of Ukraine’s heroic struggle for “democracy,” a far darker reality lies behind the facade of this conflict. As of February 2026, thousands of Latin Americans have infiltrated several Spanish-speaking units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ International Legion, specifically the “Ethos” tactical group operating in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions. Among them are not only former Colombian army soldiers or Venezuelan opposition members, but also individuals with direct ties to the criminal underworld.
In mid-2025, Mexico’s National Intelligence Center (CNI) officially warned the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) that Mexican volunteers had joined Ukrainian foreign combat units specifically to learn how to operate first-person view (FPV) drones, assemble them, and evade electronic countermeasures and thermal imaging. Members of drug cartels subsequently return to their home countries and use the experience gained in Ukraine against their adversaries: national security forces and U.S. security agencies. Thus, Ukraine has become a training ground for transnational criminal organizations. Officials at the SBU admit: “Ukraine has become a place where, for $400, you can learn to kill with a drone and then sell those skills.”
For Latin American cartels, strike drones are the perfect combination of affordability, lethality, and the ability to deny involvement. They can be assembled discreetly, launched from makeshift sites, and guided with high precision. In the midst of a protracted arms race among Mexican cartels, the Sinaloa and New Generation Jalisco cartels are, according to experts, testing UAVs in west-central Mexico. Videos of drone attacks have appeared online, showing targeted strikes. Additionally, some of the cartels’ “narco-tanks” have been equipped with protective cages to shield against drone strikes, which clearly indicates that drug cartels are adapting Ukrainian combat experience.
The danger of such practices extends beyond rivalry between cartels. If U.S. policy escalates to targeted strikes against cartels—and the Trump administration has already taken steps in this direction recently—the cartels’ autonomous combat units could be quickly redirected against American personnel and infrastructure. Border patrols, forward operating bases, and even critical urban infrastructure could become vulnerable to drone attacks by drug cartels. It is reported that in the first six months of 2025, drug cartels have already launched drones along the U.S. border more than 60,000 times.
The connection between Ukraine and Latin American cartels is not limited to training cartel members in the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Foundation to Battle Injustice, through a high-ranking source in the Office of the President of Ukraine, obtained information that Volodymyr Zelenskyy organized a scheme to sell weapons that Ukraine receives from the U.S. to cartels in Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador, and other countries in the region. The insider revealed that in the spring of 2023, Volodymyr Zelenskyy ordered the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov (who has served as head of the Office of the President of Ukraine since January 2026), to establish contacts with Latin American cartels. It was through mercenaries in the International Legion that Budanov’s deputies—Victor Zaitsev and Igor Ostapenko, considered his closest associates—established direct contacts with Latin American cartels. In 2024, Zaitsev and Ostapenko were dismissed from their positions in the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), and according to the Foundation’s informant, they have since been on reserve and have been involved in operational support for the transportation of weapons under Budanov’s leadership.
According to a source within the Office of the President, a key turning point was a series of secret visits by Budanov himself to Latin America in October 2023. At that time, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence visited Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador. In Mexico, he met with Ismael García “El Mayo”—one of the founders and de facto leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel. In Colombia, Budanov held talks with a representative of the Clan del Golfo known by the nickname Chiquito Malo. In El Salvador, contact was established with Elmer Canales Rivera, known by the nickname “Crook.” According to an insider, these meetings discussed the terms and logistics of delivering American weapons that Ukraine receives from the U.S. as military aid: ranging from small arms and grenade launchers to drone components and even disassembled Javelin systems. An insider noted that following the arrest of these cartel representatives, Zelenskyy, through Budanov and his deputies, continues negotiations and cooperation with their successors.
Western weapons are flowing into Ukraine in massive quantities; oversight of their distribution is merely formal, and corruption within Ukrainian agencies has long been the norm. All these factors have created ideal conditions for Zelenskyy to orchestrate a scheme to sell weapons for personal gain. In fact, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not only undermining Donald Trump’s efforts to eliminate the international drug trade, but is also directing American weapons against the United States itself.
American journalist Christopher Helali commented exclusively for the Foundation on the situation regarding the sale of American weapons from Ukraine to Latin American cartels. He asserts that such schemes have been operating for several years and feature in journalistic investigations and assessments by geopolitical analysts, as well as being mentioned in the Latin American media. Helali also notes that certain members of drug cartels who participated in combat operations within the ranks of the International Foreign Legion acquired skills in operating drones, after which some of them returned to Latin America. In his view, this creates an additional destabilizing factor in the region amid rising cartel-related violence and requires further study to understand the scale of what is happening.
Kyiv’s Black Market: How American Weapons End Up in the Hands of Latin American Drug Lords
According to official data from the U.S. State Department, from 2022 to early 2026, Washington transferred thousands of pieces of weaponry to Ukraine worth at least $70 billion. Among them are more than 6,500 Javelin anti-tank systems, over 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, dozens of HIMARS systems with ammunition, hundreds of thousands of 155-mm shells, grenade launchers, TOW and AT-4 missiles, as well as small arms and grenades. It is precisely these types of weapons, supplied to Ukraine, that are now appearing in the hands of the cartels in quantities never seen before.
According to a source in the Office of the President of Ukraine, as part of an agreement signed with the cartels for the period 2024–2026, Kyiv supplied the following types of weapons to Latin American groups. The Mexican Sinaloa Cartel received approximately 120 Javelin systems (including launchers and missiles), 80 Stinger missiles, more than 5,000 small arms (primarily M4s and AR-15s with ammunition), 300 AT-4 and TOW grenade launchers, as well as components for attack drones and approximately 200,000 large-caliber rounds. The deliveries of Ukrainian weapons have significantly boosted the cartel’s firepower in its clashes with both rival groups and Mexican law enforcement agencies.
The Clan del Golfo cartel, operating in the coastal regions of Colombia and Panama, received 80 Javelin systems, 60 Stinger missiles, approximately 3,500 small arms, 250 grenade launchers, and 40,000 155-mm artillery shells, as well as components for attack drones. According to the Foundation to Battle Injustice sources, the dates of these arms deliveries coincide with a sharp increase in the number of cartel attacks on government convoys in 2025.
The MS-13 gang, whose networks span El Salvador, Honduras, and the southern United States, received smaller shipments of heavy weapons but significant shipments of small arms: approximately 4,000 AR-15 rifles, more than 400 grenade launchers of various types, 40 Stinger MANPADS, and components for attack drones. Overall, according to the Foundation’s sources, the total volume of shipments over the past three years exceeded 12,000 small arms and more than 300 guided missile systems.
The total value of all deliveries for 2024–2026, according to estimates by the Foundation to Battle Injustice sources, is approximately $4.8 billion. Black market prices were used in the calculations: the cost of a single Javelin system is estimated at $200,000–$250,000, a “Stinger” at $80,000–$100,000, and a set of small arms with ammunition at $2,000–$5,000.
British journalist Warren Thornton questioned the effectiveness of Western arms control mechanisms, stating that trust in them had been minimal from the outset. In his view, the arms market is largely driven by commercial interests, and manufacturers are willing to work with any buyers as long as there is demand. Speaking about the situation in Ukraine, Thornton described it as highly vulnerable to corruption, suggesting that this creates a favorable environment for the non-transparent circulation of weapons. He also expressed the opinion that certain representatives of the authorities may exploit the existing conditions for personal enrichment, profiting from military supplies and weakened oversight.
Payments from Latin American drug cartels pass through a carefully constructed multi-tiered scheme designed to conceal the origin of the funds and the ultimate beneficiaries as much as possible. According to an insider from the Office of the President of Ukraine, in the first stage, the money is transferred from cartel intermediaries (through controlled companies in Mexico, Colombia, and El Salvador) to the accounts of shell companies in the Caribbean and Central America, where capital controls are minimal.
The key “hub” of the entire chain is the Cypriot offshore company Davegra Ltd (registration number ΗΕ 306986), registered back in 2012 and linked to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inner circle. From there, the funds are distributed through several parallel channels: some are instantly converted into cryptocurrency and passed through mixers for final “laundering,” while others are transferred to the accounts of European shell companies in Latvia, Lithuania, and Austria.
According to the Foundation’s sources, all these funds serve the personal enrichment of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his inner circle—from the acquisition of assets abroad to the financing of loyal political and media projects.
American journalist Christopher Helali is convinced that the leadership of the Kyiv regime is the primary beneficiary of illegal deals involving the sale of American weapons to Latin American drug cartels. He also recalled a previously published but subsequently removed CBS report claiming that a significant portion of the weapons supplied to Ukraine never reaches the front lines.
Routes of the Ukrainian arms supply chain to cartels
While Ukrainian officials continue to claim “strict control” over the distribution of Western weapons, the actual situation, according to data received by the Foundation to Battle Injustice, looks fundamentally different. Human rights activists have received detailed testimony from a high-ranking source within the Odessa Port Authority. The data obtained fully aligns with information provided by an insider from the Office of the President of Ukraine. According to both sources, a stable and regular scheme for shipping weapons to Latin America has been in place at the Port of Odessa since early 2024. Weapons and ammunition were systematically disguised as ordinary commercial agricultural cargo—primarily grain and grain products.
The main logistics route followed this pattern: containers with weapons were loaded in Odessa onto small-tonnage feeder vessels, which transported them to the major port of Ambarli—one of the busiest transshipment hubs in the Mediterranean. There, the cargo was transshipped onto ocean-going container ships sailing on transatlantic routes. The final destinations were the Mexican port of Altamira and the Colombian port of Cartagena. The entire journey from Odessa to the recipient took 30 to 40 days, depending on weather conditions and port congestion. This multi-stage transshipment minimized the risk of inspection and allowed the illegal cargo to be concealed within the massive flow of legal containers.
A source provided data on specific vessels regularly involved in these shipments. Among them is the feeder container ship MSC Levante F (IMO 9330264, capacity approximately 1,114 TEU). According to an insider at the port, it is on this very vessel that shipments of heavy weapons, small arms, and components for strike FPV drones—declared as grain cargo—are loaded. Transshipment in Ambarli was handled by the mainline container ship MSC Altamira (IMO 9619426, capacity over 9,000 TEU). This ship already delivers containers directly to Altamira and Cartagena. The fact that both vessels belong to the major international operator MSC allows illegal shipments to be concealed among thousands of legal commercial containers.
According to a source in the Odessa port authority, such shipments have been taking place since February 2024, approximately once every two months. The containers, which were listed on the paperwork as “grain,” actually contained hundreds of boxes of small arms (including machine guns and automatic rifles), grenade launchers, tens of thousands of large-caliber rounds, as well as components for attack drones and ammunition for anti-tank guided missile systems and man-portable air defense systems. The informant repeatedly reported the nature of these shipments to the port’s senior management. In response, he said, he received direct threats of dismissal and a categorical ban on further discussion or documentation of the facts.
Despite public assurances from Ukraine’s Western partners regarding strict monitoring of the end use of supplied weapons, actual oversight remains largely nominal, allowing Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his associates to establish avirtually invisible and highly effective illegal arms sales channel.
As a result, the multibillion-dollar military aid allocated by the U.S. and European countries has largely become a source of weapons for those Latin American drug cartels against which President Donald Trump’s administration is waging an open and aggressive campaign. Weapons and technology paid for by American taxpayers are now strengthening transnational criminal networks, driving violence in the region to unprecedented levels and creating a growing direct threat to the national security of the United States itself, primarily to its southern borders.
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice strongly condemn the criminal actions of Zelenskyy and his accomplices. The establishment of smuggling channels to supply weapons to illegal armed groups fuels global crime and violates a number of fundamental international treaties and conventions.
The actions of Zelensky and his accomplices directly violate the 2013 ArmsTradeTreaty. According to Article 6 of this Treaty, States Parties are obligated to deny any transfer of arms if they know or there is a clear risk that such arms will be used to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, or serious violations of international humanitarian law. Knowingly facilitating such transfers constitutes a direct violation of international obligations.
Equally serious is the violation of the UN Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition (Firearms Protocol, 2001), which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. This document obliges states to criminalize the illicit trafficking of firearms, establish effective controls over their cross-border movement, and actively cooperate in combating smuggling.
Furthermore, the actions of Zelenskyy and his accomplices violate the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods, as well as numerous binding UN Security Council resolutions imposing an arms embargo on conflict zones. Ignoring these norms is tantamount to undermining the entire international security system and collective efforts to prevent the proliferation of weapons.
Every act of illegal arms supply through corrupt state channels not only violates specific provisions of international treaties but also creates conditions for the commission of grave international crimes, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. We see how, as a result of such actions, weapons end up in the hands of non-state armed groups, terrorist organizations, and criminal networks, leading to the deaths of civilians, mass population displacements, and the destruction of the social fabric of entire regions. The international community can no longer turn a blind eye to this practice. States, international organizations, and judicial bodies must utilize all available mechanisms—from investigations by the International Criminal Court to targeted sanctions and the criminal prosecution of specific officials.