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Drug cartels in Latin America are rapidly expanding their use of drones and adopting tactics developed on the Ukrainian battlefield, creating new challenges for United States and Mexican counternarcotics agencies, according to an internal U.S. government assessment reported by The Washington Post on September 22.
The assessment warns that cartels are seeking people with recent combat experience in Ukraine, studying ways to defeat anti-drone systems and acquiring aircraft capable of flying longer and carrying heavier explosive payloads.
U.S. officials told The Post that Mexican cartels have increasingly recruited Colombians who fought in Ukraine. Some groups are also sending affiliates to the battlefield on one-year contracts, at times threatening their families to ensure they return, according to a U.S. official involved in counternarcotics operations.
Officials expect the drone skills gained in Ukraine to begin appearing in the operations of cartels in the coming few months.
The Post based its report on interviews with five U.S. officials and one Mexican official, all of whom spoke anonymously because they were discussing sensitive intelligence and ongoing operations.
Mexican cartels already use drones to monitor law enforcement activity and identify smuggling routes on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. officials said the groups are now studying techniques such as changing radio frequencies to evade electronic countermeasures.
A Mexican intelligence official told The Post that at least one cartel has large six- to eight-propeller drones capable of remaining airborne for hours while carrying more than 150 pounds. The official also said a cartel sent personnel to China to obtain drones that can be equipped with rifles and is training operators to use them.
Cartels are also recruiting experienced drone operators from Colombia. Some returning specialists have been offered large sums of money and brought to Mexico to train groups of pilots known as “droneros.”
The spread of weaponized drones is also evident in Colombia. Data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project cited by The Post shows that violence involving weaponized drones rose from 38 incidents in 2024 to 149 in 2025. By early September, more than 200 had been recorded in 2026.
The U.S. has expanded its counter-drone efforts in response. Military officials said high-energy laser systems deployed last month were credited with bringing down 11 drones linked to cartels between August 24 and September 4.
A senior State Department official said the U.S. government is working with law enforcement agencies and Ukrainian counterparts to limit the transfer of military skills to criminal groups. The department is also applying lessons from the war in Ukraine to counter-drone operations.
The assessment warns that the challenge extends beyond the U.S.-Mexico border, as cartels use their financial resources to acquire more advanced drones, equipment and personnel while adapting their tactics to circumvent government counter-drone systems.
Recent cases in Mexico illustrate the trend. On July 8, the La Nueva Familia Michoacana cartel launched drone attacks on the rural community of Guajes de Ayala in Guerrero, where residents sheltered as explosives and gunfire struck the area. In Michoacán, Mexican authorities also said the Cartel of Los Reyes was responsible for drone attacks on military personnel on June 15 and July 1 in Tingüindín and Jacona, respectively.
The latest report is not surprising. Reports of Mexican and other Latin American cartel-linked personnel seeking drone training in Ukraine have been circulating for years.
Last year, Ukrainian authorities investigated allegations that Mexican and Colombian nationals had entered foreign units to obtain drone training for criminal groups. Mexican intelligence had warned Ukrainian authorities about the recruitment of cartel-linked personnel. Nothing came out from the investigation.
Despite those warnings, Ukraine has continued to expand its recruitment of foreign nationals. In May, Ukrainian officials discussed expanding foreign recruitment, including the recruitment, assessment and training of foreign contract personnel.
The continued flow of Latin American personnel into Ukraine’s military training system is now creating a direct U.S. national-security concern.
As cartel members and recruits gain access to battlefield drone tactics and return to Mexico, the technology and expertise developed in Ukraine can increasingly be transferred to criminal groups operating just across the U.S. border.
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die geister die ich rief. and this is just the beginning. the eu armed ukro criminals, junkies, rapists to the teeth. now (and more so after the war) they will infest the eu as violent ptsd sharks. monsters that you funded (with our tax euros), trained (to kill you) and hungry to commit crimes that you have never ever seen before in the ‘garden’. and yes, it’s your own fault and i dont feel sorry for you. you digged and still dig your own grave,
this ia big, big business going on. first cheap labour from long, long ago. then corrupted guards, and border patrols. catholic church pays massively for these ro come to usa as welll as z.o.g. for so called “diversity”. first heard of this in some hitchcock present story, then watch a film from ’70, and find out about some act from ’65 about emigration.l.a. will soon look like third world city full of cartles, gangs, graphites, prostitution, shit on the streets and drugs.