Why don't NATO troops and untrained volunteers help Ukraine prepare fortified positions?

Question

Recently, after the fall of Avdiivka, Russia made some relatively quick advances due to the lack of prepared defense lines. At this point, with Ukraine on the backfoot, its important for them to fight from fortified positions with favorable kill ratio and fall back to the next ones when the advantage dissipates. This seems like a place NATO troops (perhaps French) can help out with very limited chances of direct confrontation with Russia. This is also a place where foreign volunteers without military training can be utilized. And yet I've seen no one suggesting this. Is there something I'm missing?

see also https://politics.stackexchange.com/q/71443/21531 – Italian Philosophers 4 Monica Mar 10 '24 at 21:12 — Italian Philosophers 4 Monica, Mar 10 '24 at 21:12

score 9 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 10 '24 at 06:07

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Sending NATO troops to do that work would have them doing combat support within Ukraine. Would they carry arms and shoot back if fired upon? If NATO wanted a war with Russia, they should do it with open eyes and a clear plan.
Civilian 'volunteers' from NATO states would be disorganized, and they would risk violating various national laws against serving in foreign armed forces. They could of course renounce their citizenship first and dig under the Ukrainian flag, but people prepared to go that far would probably volunteer all the way.

answered Mar 10 '24 at 06:07

o.m.

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Hmm, many volunteers are already training Ukrainian troops, de-mining and even actively fighting. Digging trenches seems harmless enough. – Rohit Pandey Mar 10 '24 at 06:18
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@RohitPandey, de-mining not in a combat zone can be argued to be humanitarian aid. Combat volunteers are betting that public sympathy for Ukraine will shield them from prosecution once they come back. – o.m. Mar 10 '24 at 06:26
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The number of foreign volunteers seems to have been far short of expectations (around 1,500 instead of 20,000), and their quality sometimes questoinable too https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/03/26/world/ukraine-foreign-volunteers/ This kinda seems to sum it up “For Westerners it's common to take a shower once a week,” he said. “Here you can't do that.” https://www.vice.com/en/article/88qwm3/foreign-fighters-in-ukraine – the gods from engineering Mar 10 '24 at 09:44
@Dolphin613Motorboat Ukraine is now struggling even with convincing locals to go fight as the most patriotic men are now mostly dead or heavily injured. – JonathanReez Mar 10 '24 at 22:30

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 10 '24 at 11:25

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There are volunteers in Ukraine, doing all sorts of tasks. Some are fighting, surely they also dig trenches when commanded to do so. The construct "volunteers from NATO" looks like a real propaganda masterpiece. Volunteers are from nowhere: it is they own decision to come.

Why NATO army does not start the WW3? Maybe still somebody thinks WW3 is not a good idea. Even if started without nuclear weapons, it can easily escalate all way through.

answered Mar 10 '24 at 11:25

Stančikas

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Where did you get "volunteers from NATO"? – Rohit Pandey Mar 10 '24 at 17:13
From the text of the question – Stančikas Mar 11 '24 at 06:18
That term does not appear in the text of the question. – Rohit Pandey Mar 11 '24 at 06:55
The question has been edited. There was "volunteers from NATO" – Stančikas Mar 11 '24 at 07:24
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You can check the edit history. That term was never there. – Rohit Pandey Mar 11 '24 at 07:38
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@RohitPandey, your point would be more compelling if the question title did not say the opposite. "NATO troops and untrained volunteers" leaves little place for interpretation. – Be Brave Be Like Ukraine Mar 12 '24 at 16:14

Why don't NATO troops and untrained volunteers help Ukraine prepare fortified positions?

2 Answers2