Is training troops in Ukraine a risk worth taking?

Defence Secretary John Healey has raised the possibility that British military personnel could be deployed to Ukraine to carry out training missions. On a visit to Kyiv this week, he spoke about a five-point plan for increasing the United Kingdom’s support for its beleaguered ally, one aspect of which would be to ‘make the training a better fit for what the Ukrainians need’. When he was asked whether that could encompass undertaking the mission in Ukraine rather than the UK, he was careful not to rule it out: ‘We will look wherever we can to respond to what the Ukrainians want. They are the ones fighting.’

Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple: deploying soldiers to a conflict zone in which we are not a direct combatant always carries a risk. What if a sudden Russian advance puts a Ukrainian unit with British trainers in the firing line? What would the rules of engagement be? What happens if a Russian soldier is shot dead by a member of a British training mission? If botched, there is every chance this deployment could spiral into a direct confrontation between the armies of Britain and Russia.