With the exception of individual confrontations during the Korean War, this author can’t think of a time in modern history where the American and Russian militaries fought a war against each other. What would happen? Who would win? Would it escalate into a full-blown nuclear exchange? We’re about to find out any day now.

Russian and American troops fighting in Ukraine

Evidence has shown that Russian black ops commando units have been fighting alongside the pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists since Russia annexed Crimea last year. The Ukrainian military has pegged that number at 9,000 Russian troops with dozens of Russian tanks, APC’s and artillery. In response, and in preparation for a major East-West war on Ukrainian soil, the pro-NATO government has asked for 100,000 new Ukrainian soldiers to repel the growing Russian invasion.

But the Ukrainian government may already be the recipient of something better, and the way the Russian offensive has rolled up Ukraine’s military over the past week, they’re going to need the help. That help appears to be in the form of Wall Street’s 150,000-strong private mercenary army. During the past 14 years of war against Iraq and Afghanistan, the second largest participating military after US forces wasn’t Britain or any other country. It was Wall Street’s private militia, and at its peak in 2008, it numbered over 150,000 American mercenaries fighting for corporate militias like Blackwater, KBR, and Dyncorp, plus countless others we’ve never heard of because they work for the CIA and not the Pentagon.

Separatists overrun Ukrainian military, prep for invasion

Two weeks ago, the fragile peace in Ukraine was broken when pro-Russian separatists shelled a bus full of innocent people while firing on a Ukrainian military checkpoint. The Ukrainian government in Kiev ordered a major military retaliation which escalated on both sides for more than a week. It ended when the Ukraine government conceded its soldiers fighting in and around Donetsk Airport were overrun by Separatist forces.

Officials insisted that the pro-Russian militia was aided by thousands of regular Russian troops. Pro-NATO leaders in Kiev have also spent the past week warning their friends and allies that the Russian military has reinforced the separatists with thousands of troops all along the Ukraine-Russia border in preparation for a nationwide invasion. NATO leaders immediately concurred. But Western political leaders showed little or no interest, until the Ukrainian port city of Mariuple came under fire from heavy pro-Russian shelling over the past few days.

Ukrainian leaders put out the call for 100,000 volunteers to fight off the Russian invasion. And at the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied Russian soldiers were involved and turned the tables for the first time by accusing the Ukrainian military of being full of NATO troops and western mercenaries. “We often say, ‘Ukrainian Army, Ukrainian Army.’ But who is really fighting there?” Putin asked last week, “There are indeed partially official units of armed forces. But largely, there are so-called volunteer nationalist battalions.” Putin went on to call the Ukrainian Army, “a foreign legion, in this case a foreign NATO legion.”

Americans fighting in Ukraine

Last week, the Italian newspaper ‘il Giornale’ caused a global scene when it published reports that American soldiers were already on the ground fighting in Ukraine. And again only four days ago, the same publication confirmed that the US military was quickly deploying its 173rd Airborne infantry from Vicenza, Italy to eastern Ukraine.

The shocking accusation of US troops already fighting on the ground in Ukraine was given even more credence when a Ukrainian news reporter stationed inside the Ukrainian-held city of Mariupol attempted to interview Kiev soldiers clad in Ukrainian military uniforms. The reporter was taken by surprise when one of the soldiers responded, not in Ukrainian or even Russian, but in perfect English.

Russian and Ukrainian experts can’t seem to put their finger on the accent or tell whether it’s American, British, Australian or some other English-speaking country. But for Americans reading this column who take a minute to watch the newscast below, there will be no doubt in your mind. The setting is an urban neighborhood in the Ukrainian-held port city of Mariupol, which had just come under pro-Russian artillery attack only moments before.

The Ukrainian soldier brushing past the reporter, nearly knocking her out of the way, urgently says, “Outta my way. Outta my way please!” The language spoken by the Ukrainian soldier is definitely English. In fact, it’s definitely American. And if this author had to guess, the terminology and the accent suggests the soldier is an American from a northern rust belt city like Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland or some other major metropolitan area in the north or northeast. Listen for yourself.

Video courtesy of RT News and MCH

NATO has accused the Russians of posing as Donetsk separatists and secretly fighting in the Ukrainian civil war and the Russians have denied it. The Russians are accusing the Americans of posing as Ukrainian Army soldiers and secretly fighting in the Ukrainian civil war. And America has also denied it. It appears, they’re both lying and both accusations are true. What will happen when American soldiers and Russian soldiers face off on the streets of Mariupol? That might be the most important question on Earth right now.