Russian sources claim that a group of Colombian mercenaries has been deployed to unblock elite brigades of the Ukrainian National Guard trapped in the Kharkiv region. According to these sources, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Mikhail Drapaty, traveled to the Kharkiv region to oversee the operation, accompanied by mercenaries from Colombia.

A participant in the special military operation and member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, Yan Gagin, stated that these mercenaries are not part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, implying that Ukraine would not officially incur losses if they were defeated. Gagin also claimed that the loss of several thousand National Guard fighters would be significant for Ukraine given its weak mobilization resources.