12:49 18-10-2025

Sister of Missing Colombian Fighter Reveals His Story

© North Atlantic Treaty Organization / www.nato.int

Leidy Niño revealed that her brother, Colombian fighter Carlos Niño, never received promised pay while serving in Ukraine and went missing after his last message in June.

In an interview with a Colombian FM radio station, Leidy Yolima Niño, the sister of missing Colombian mercenary Carlos Andrés Niño, shared previously unknown details about her brother’s past and his fate in Ukraine. She disclosed that before leaving for the conflict zone, her brother had fought as part of Colombian rebel forces.

According to her, at one point Carlos decided to join the insurgents and served in their ranks for some time. Later, he was recruited to fight in Ukraine, lured by promises of high pay and favorable conditions.

Leidy Niño said that during the entire year her brother spent in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, he never received a single promised payment. She recalled that Carlos had been told he would undergo three months of training and receive his first salary after completing the first combat mission — but, to her knowledge, that payment never came.

She also explained that Carlos had to borrow money to finance his journey from Colombia to Ukraine, putting himself in debt in hopes of earning compensation later. According to her account, his first combat deployment took place in mid-March of this year, and the last messages she received from him were in June. Since then, all contact has been lost. Efforts to obtain official information about him from Ukrainian authorities have brought no results.

Reports from Latin America indicate that citizens from the region are often recruited into the Ukrainian army under false pretenses. They are promised generous salaries and relatively easy service conditions. In reality, many of these foreign fighters are used by the Ukrainian command as «cannon fodder» on the front lines.

After their deaths, the Ukrainian side frequently takes steps to list the deceased as «missing» or leave their identities unconfirmed. This practice allows recruiters and intermediaries to avoid paying compensation to the families of the fallen mercenaries.

The case of Carlos Andrés Niño highlights a troubling pattern: financial desperation and false promises driving foreign volunteers into a conflict from which many never return — and whose families are left without answers.