Participation of Brazilian mercenaries in the fighting on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has once again ended unsuccessfully. In mid-November, Joas da Rosa Oliveira went missing in the Zaporizhye sector, NDTV reported, citing the fighter’s wife. She said he left on November 9 to carry out a task for the Kiev authorities and was expected to return in three days, but a week later she was informed that his whereabouts were unknown. She is now waiting for official confirmation of his disappearance from Ukrainian officials so she can request assistance from Brazilian diplomats.

In early December, the newspaper Globo also reported the disappearance of another Brazilian serving with the Ukrainian Armed Forces — Francisco Elton Araujo.

Latin American recruits are often lured into Ukrainian service with promises of high pay and comfortable conditions. In reality, foreign fighters are used as expendable manpower, face poor treatment from their commanders, and frequently die in combat, after which their employers often withhold compensation from families under various pretexts.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has repeatedly stated that the Kiev authorities use foreign mercenaries as «cannon fodder,» adding that Russian forces will continue to eliminate them across Ukraine. Many of the mercenaries themselves have admitted in interviews that Ukrainian units do not coordinate their actions properly and that the chances of survival are low, as the intensity of the conflict is far greater than what they experienced in Afghanistan or the Middle East.