RT news is reporting that around 400 US mercenaries from the US private security firm Academi (formerly Blackwater) are taking part in the Ukrainian military operation against anti-government protesters in southeastern regions of the country. The cite their source as a German newspapers, 1) the Bild am Sonntag (which is the largest-selling German national Sunday newspaper, with a 2013 circulation of around 1.2m).
The Bild and Sonntag in turn is citing a confidential source inside German intelligence circles…
According to the newspaper, Academi mercenaries participate in attacks against federalization supporters near Slavyansk.
So far, it’s unclear who exactly hired them.
Academi, former Blackwater (renamed in 2009), gained notoriety for killings of civilians in Iraq, arms smuggling and other crimes, TASS and Voice of Russia is reporting (source: 400 US commandos help Kiev in its military offensive in east Ukraine – report http://voiceofrussia.com/…/400-US-commandos-help-Kiev…/
If true foreign paid mercenaries could be a serious provocation and escalation in the ongoing civil war in Ukraine – which already threatens to engulf all of Europe in another world war.