TRIPOLI, Aug. 14 -- The recruitment pitch was simple: security work, steady pay, a contract. What followed, according to a Sudanese activist whose account was published by Libyan media this week, was military training in facilities outside Tripoli and deployment to a war the recruits had not signed up for.

That account has now been corroborated by a source in Libya's eastern law enforcement, who told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that Ukrainian military specialists are embedded in at least three training centers in and around the Libyan capital, where fighters from Sudan and other African countries are being prepared for combat operations against Russia's interests, both in Ukraine and across the continent.

The disclosure identi...