{"id":15099,"date":"2026-07-28T19:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T00:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/?p=15099"},"modified":"2026-07-28T09:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T14:12:08","slug":"panamanian-volunteer-ukraine-russia-war-denies-recruitment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expat-times.com\/panama\/news\/panamanian-volunteer-ukraine-russia-war-denies-recruitment\/","title":{"rendered":"Panamanian Volunteer Ukraine-Russia War Denies Recruitment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ronnie Gonz\u00e1lez Castillo, a Panamanian volunteer Ukraine has spoken at length about, never imagined he would trade the routine of small business ownership for a bunker on the eastern front. The former entrepreneur, who spent years scrambling to support his family amid Panama\u2019s economic pressures<\/a>, found himself operating military drones and training fellow Latin Americans in the International Legion of Ukraine<\/a>. In a candid account, he rejected allegations that a shadowy recruitment ring had tricked him into service, insisting that every step was his own, even when the destination meant almost certain danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Personal Decision Rooted in Economic Collapse<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Long before foreign armies dominated his daily life, Gonz\u00e1lez Castillo was wrestling with a more ordinary enemy: insolvency. His business ventures in Panama had stalled, and the financial strain made it increasingly difficult to provide for his family. A friend already deployed in Ukraine mentioned the International Legion, a formal entity established by Kyiv in early 2022 to absorb foreign volunteers. For a man watching his financial options narrow, the promise of a steady contract, coupled with the knowledge that his child would receive support even if he perished, tipped the scales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI knew I was coming to help, I knew I had to go to the front line, and I knew my life was at risk from the very first moment,\u201d he said. [Translated from Spanish]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The decision, he now reflects, was never about ideology. It was a cold calculation framed by desperation. Unlike mercenaries who might chase paydays through opaque channels, Gonz\u00e1lez Castillo reached out directly to the Legion\u2019s official contact points. He found scant information in Spanish at the time, so he navigated the process alone. That isolation, he argues, is proof enough that no recruiter steered him toward combat. The International Legion\u2019s creation under President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s decree gave foreign nationals a legal route to fight alongside Ukrainian forces, a framework Gonz\u00e1lez Castillo used without intermediaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronnie Gonz\u00e1lez Castillo es un paname\u00f1o que participa en la guerra de Ucrania, quien luego de las denuncias sobre reclutamientos, aclar\u00f3 que \u00e9l s\u00ed conoc\u00eda cu\u00e1l ser\u00eda la labor que realizar\u00eda, y c\u00f3mo fue el proceso para llegar a ese pa\u00eds. "Mi primer contrato fue de ametrallador, yo\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/H2WVktODS1<\/a><\/p>— Telemetro Reporta (@TReporta) July 28, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>