Mexican drug cartels have become more sophisticated than some countries' militaries.
The recent death of a kingpin set off another wave of violence in the country.
And what comes next is something the Biden administration spent four years making possible – and most Americans still don't know about it.
How Mexican Cartel Soldiers Are Getting Ukraine Drone Training
Ukrainian counterintelligence launched an investigation last summer after Mexico's intelligence service sent a warning: cartel operatives were slipping into Ukraine's International Legion to learn first-person-view drone warfare from the most experienced drone fighters on the planet.
Not to help Ukraine win.
To bring those skills home and turn them on rival cartels – and eventually on American law enforcement.
Ukraine-American journalist David Kirichenko spent time embedded with soldiers on the frontline and maintained contact with many of them afterward.
He told Metro that volunteers from Mexico and Colombia were openly discussing the plan.
"Some of those soldiers mentioned that upon returning to their countries, there was significant interest from various cartels looking to utilise their skill sets in modern warfare," Kirichenko said.
Ukraine was desperate for help in the country’s war against Russia.
Kirichenko put it plainly: "It only takes one talented, experienced drone operator to go back and teach many others."
Mexican Cartel Drone Attacks Have Already Started
The theory became reality before anyone could stop it.
According to a Kyiv Post investigation, Mexican veterans returning from Ukraine have already carried out drone attacks on rival cartel compounds and domestic security forces using tactics learned in eastern Ukraine.
The Security Service of Ukraine – the SBU – opened investigations specifically targeting Spanish-speaking units operating near the front.
In one documented case, a fighter using the callsign "Aguila 7" – Eagle 7 – trained on FPV kamikaze drones in Ukraine before heading home to Mexico.
Ukrainian counterintelligence later determined he had been part of an elite Mexican special forces unit – the same outfit whose deserters founded the Zetas, one of the most violent cartels in history.
In Brazil, a gang-linked fighter named Pinto swore loyalty to Comando Vermelho on video, passed Legion vetting, and served near Kherson, Kramatorsk, and Kharkiv before commanders grew suspicious and removed him.
A Swiss volunteer with the Legion told Swiss media in February 2025 that 30% of his fellow fighters had criminal backgrounds.
Thirty percent.
These aren't outliers – they're a pipeline.
The FPV Drone Threat That Could Hit the Border Next
Ukraine's military built dedicated drone academies that trained thousands of pilots in FPV operation, drone manufacturing, mission planning, reconnaissance, electronic warfare, and counter-electronic warfare techniques.
Foreign volunteers from trusted units were given access.
The cartel operatives who slipped through vetting didn't just learn to fly.
They learned to build fiber-optic-controlled drones immune to signal jamming – the same counter-drone systems the U.S. deploys at the border.
CBP detected over 42,000 near-border drone flights in fiscal year 2025.
In October 2025, Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) flew an explosive-laden drone into the heavily-defended compound of the Tijuana state prosecutor's office and proved no facility was beyond reach.
Trump Just Proved He Was Right – and the Cartel Responded With Blood
Three days ago, Trump's intelligence apparatus handed Mexico the kill shot on El Mencho – Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes – the most wanted drug lord in the Western Hemisphere and the man who built CJNG's drone program from scratch.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the U.S. provided intelligence support that made the February 22 raid in Tapalpa, Jalisco possible.
The cartel's response was immediate.
Gunmen burned vehicles and blockaded roads across 22 Mexican states.
El Mencho's right-hand man put a bounty on soldiers' heads – 20,000 pesos for every military kill.
Guadalajara went dark as civilians sheltered in place. Airlines cancelled flights into Puerto Vallarta and Mazatlán.
That was their response to losing their boss.
Now picture their response when a drone pilot who trained in Ukraine wants to prove his skills.
Trump designated six cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations in his first weeks back in office, giving intelligence agencies and military units the legal authority to hit cartel networks wherever they operate.
Attorney General Pam Bondi told Congress what that means in practice: "Cartel drones are being shot down by our military. That's what we all should care about right now: protecting America."
A cartel on a revenge mission.
Ukraine-trained pilots who know how to beat jamming systems.
And 42,000 drone flights near your border last year that Joe Biden’s regime pretended weren't happening.
Trump is the first president to treat this as what it is – an armed terrorist organization at war with America.
Sources:
- Sarah Hooper, "How cartel members are getting drone training in Ukraine," Metro, February 25, 2026.
- "Latin American Drug Cartels Send 'Volunteers' to Ukraine for Drone Training," Kyiv Post, July 31, 2025.
- "CBP: Cartels Flew 42,000 Drones near U.S. Border in FY25," Breitbart, February 15, 2026.
- "El Paso Airport Closure Reveals Escalating Cartel Drone Security Activity," Fox News, February 2026.
- "How Mexican Cartels Are Using Drones, Now and in the Future," Brookings, February 2026.
- "How Cartels are Adopting Drone Tactics from Ukraine," Small Wars Journal, January 2026.
- Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary statement on El Mencho operation, February 22, 2026.
