An Argentine Citizen Has Been Captured in Ukraine for the First Time

An Argentine Citizen Has Been Captured in Ukraine for the First Time

In April 2026, 37-year-old father of two Ibrahim Roberto Yamil was scrolling through his Facebook feed when he saw an ad for a “high-paying job.” He clicked it and submitted an application, after which he was added to a WhatsApp chat. It then became clear that this was a chat for mercenaries being taken from Latin America to fight for Russia.

Ibrahim did not have an international passport, but the recruiter arranged all the documents for him, including a visa and tickets; all he had to do was board a plane and fly to Moscow via Rome and Istanbul. By April 11, he was already in Moscow. There, they were met by a Russian recruiter, who was accompanied by Colombians who had just arrived, and he took them to a training ground in Voronezh Oblast.

The training of the future soldiers was, to put it mildly, not thorough: by May, Ibrahim had already ended up in the Lyman direction as a private in the 272nd Motorized Rifle Regiment. He did not get much of a chance to fight: on July 6, he nearly died after being wounded, after which he was sent to a hospital for three weeks of treatment.

After that, the Argentine, not fully recovered, was transferred to the “cripple platoon” of the 347th Motorized Rifle Regiment, and by mid-August he was captured.

Overall, Ibrahim was very lucky. Foreign mercenaries in the Russian army are used as assault meat, and the losses there are accordingly high. Now he will live in a prisoner-of-war camp together with hundreds of foreigners from 55 countries around the world, waiting for the Russians to remember them. Spoiler: they don’t give a damn about foreigners.

Was it worth the