{"id":92038,"date":"2025-08-30T16:24:43","date_gmt":"2025-08-30T16:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=92038"},"modified":"2025-08-30T16:24:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T16:24:43","slug":"fact-check-video-shows-a-joint-military-exercise-in-estonia-not-colombian-mercenaries-fighting-in-sudan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=92038","title":{"rendered":"Fact Check: Video shows a joint military exercise in Estonia\u2014not Colombian mercenaries fighting in Sudan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 35 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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A video clip actually shows part of a joint live-ammunition military exercise conducted by the U.S. armed forces and troops from several European countries in Estonia\u2014contrary to online posts claiming it depicts \u201cColombian mercenaries\u201d fighting in Al-Fashir, Sudan, \u201cwith support from the UAE.\u201d <\/p>\n

These posts began circulating after Sudan claimed in early August that it had killed Colombian fighters in Al-Fashir, a city controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, and accused the UAE of involvement in the conflict.<\/p>\n

In response, the UAE\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on 5 August rejecting those Sudanese allegations that it had supported any armed groups. In a formal statement to Reuters by email on 29 August, the UAE foreign ministry said it supports the Sudanese people\u2019s pursuit of peace and stability, and described the mounting allegations as \u201cfalse claims as part of a systematic campaign by what is known as the \u2018Port Sudan authority.\u2019 \u2026 These baseless claims are part of a deliberate approach to evade responsibility and shift blame to others.\u201d <\/p>\n

The video shows soldiers boarding one by one into a military vehicle in which a person wearing military fatigues fires ordnance. The individual inside can be heard saying \u201cReady, fire\u201d in English. <\/p>\n

A Facebook account shared this video with a caption reading: \u201cThe Janjaweed violations and assault on unarmed citizens. Watch how the Colombian mercenaries throw [explosives] at the people of Al-Fashir. <\/p>\n

The UAE is killing Sudanese, the UAE is supporting Colombian mercenaries to kill the Sudanese.\u201d In fact, the circulating video is part of a live-fire exercise conducted in Estonia in July 2025. <\/p>\n

The original, longer clip was released on 29 July by the U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS), which said it was filmed on 24 July near Tapa Camp, Estonia, and featured U.S., British, Canadian, and Estonian military units. <\/p>\n

According to a statement published on 18 August by the U.S. Fifth Corps (V Corps) based in Poland, the exercises took place from 21 to 25 July and included mortar and live-ammunition fire to assess the combat readiness of participating units. <\/p>\n

Additionally, the military uniform of the person inside the vehicle\u2014as well as one of the soldiers firing the ordnance\u2014bears the insignia of the U.S. Army\u2019s 3rd Infantry Division, which did take part in these joint Estonia-based drills. <\/p>\n

On 16 August, Sudanese Prime Minister Kamel Idris\u2014speaking in Spanish in a statement reviewed by Reuters\u2014called on Colombia to \u201cimmediately halt the recruitment and deployment of mercenaries in Sudan\u201d and to side with the Sudanese government. <\/p>\n

The following day, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), addressed Colombians: \u201cDo not die in foreign conflicts.\u201d Reuters contacted the Colombian and Sudanese foreign ministries, but neither responded to requests for comment. <\/p>\n

This is not the first time Sudan has accused the UAE of supporting foreign fighters. In May, Sudan said it would cut ties with the Gulf state after accusing Abu Dhabi of supplying advanced and strategic weaponry to the Rapid Support Forces.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"FactA video clip actually shows part of a joint live-ammunition military exercise conducted by the U.S. armed forces and troops from several European countries in Estonia\u2014contrary to online posts claiming it depicts \u201cColombian mercenaries\u201d fighting in Al-Fashir, Sudan, \u201cwith support from the UAE.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117,10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-politics","category-popular"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92038\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}