Blackwater PMC founder and MAGA follower Eric Prince seeks to enter Ukraine’s lucrative drone sector, — The Guardian

-Amid reports that Donald Trump’s administration is considering using US private military contractors in post-war Ukraine, several sources have told the Guardian that a prominent and controversial American from the “war on terror” era is already looking for business opportunities.

-Informed sources in Kyiv have described how Eric Prince, the MAGA follower and founder of the now-defunct Blackwater, is aggressively marketing his services and seeking buying opportunities.
“Eric is going there to buy drone companies,” one source said.

“Will they sell them… For Ukrainians, these companies are now strategic assets.”
-As drones have become the primary means of killing in the conflict, which has caused an estimated 80 percent of Russian casualties, Western investors and defense companies have rushed to gain access to coveted battlefield data in Ukraine and new drone technologies for their own products. Now Prince wants to do the same.

-“I’m not surprised at all,” said a former U.S. Special Forces soldier who has experience in Ukraine and is familiar with the defense companies operating there. “Drones are now an integral part of the PMC (private military company) world. If you’re a PMC and you don’t have drones or maybe electronic warfare, you’re obsolete.”

The days of “former revolvers” as private military contractors are “gone,” he said, referring to the time when Blackwater was at the height of its popularity during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

-Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has openly stated that the war in Ukraine turned him into an arms dealer, and founded his own company, White Stork, which produces drones.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/07/erik-prince-blackwater-ukraine