Over the weekend, we looked at the announcement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that his country would be forming an international foreign legion, allowing volunteers from other countries to come to help fight off the Russian invasion. Depending upon how the talks today between Russia and Ukraine go, it may be possible that such help won’t be required. But if the talks fall through and the fighting continues, there are already some people lining up to go join the fight, and they’re not random people walking off their 9-5 jobs for a foreign adventure. Dozens of British and American special forces veterans are signing up to answer the call. And as Buzzfeed points out, they are far from the first. Ever since Russia and Ukraine first came into conflict in 2014, hundreds of foreign fighters, including Americans, have been joining the ranks of the troops in eastern Ukraine fighting the Russian-backed separatists there.

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was quick to respond to the news, saying she supports British nationals who might go to Ukraine to fight “for democracy,” the BBC reported. She said Ukraine’s struggle was one for freedom, “not just for Ukraine but for the whole of Europe.”

Thousands of foreign fighters have flocked to Ukraine since Russia’s war against the country began in 2014. While most of them have been Russians and citizens of other former Soviet republics, hundreds have come from the European Union, roughly 40 have arrived from the US, and at least 12 from the UK, according to BuzzFeed News’ reporting and independent research done by experts who track such fighters.

Buzzfeed interviewed 27-year-old Aiden Aslin, a British citizen who is currently serving his fourth year as a member of the Ukrainian Marines in the eastern region of the country. He didn’t list many reasons for deciding to go there and fight other than a desire to help the Ukrainian people hold on to their national identity and stop Russia’s expansion into new territory. His story and those of hundreds of others like him are rarely picked up in the mainstream media, but that may be about to change.

I find myself wondering how Vladimir Putin is taking this news. A few dozen special forces veterans who are well-armed and experienced in combat will no doubt be a welcome addition to any Ukrainian units or civilian groups currently fighting the Russians, but they aren’t going to turn the tide of the entire war. But Putin is clearly looking for any excuse possible to justify his increasingly erratic actions. If he decides that these volunteers represent the United States and Great Britain “sending troops” against his army will he make good on his threats to strike out against NATO members in Europe or even the United States?

That’s the one lingering concern I continue to have over all of this activity. All of the reports we’re seeing this morning indicate that the Russian advance into the western portion of Ukraine has slowed to a crawl. The fact that Russia agreed to even meet with a Ukrainian delegation today seems to be a clear indication that Putin realizes his invasion isn’t going as planned. But Mad Vlad has never seemed like the sort of person to admit any sort of error or defeat. What if he literally decides to go nuclear?

But then the other half of my brain nudges me and asks if even an unbalanced Vladimir Putin could actually consider expanding the war further to the west of his borders, taking on some actual NATO members in the process. Putin has thrown a significant portion of his military might at Ukraine, a country that he clearly expected to fold in a couple of days, and now he’s bogged down. (Russia has 900,000 active-duty soldiers in its army, roughly 20% of which are currently tied up in or near Ukraine.) He couldn’t possibly think that he could open up a second front against Poland or Hungary, right? Particularly when the United States and the rest of NATO would immediately send their own forces to the front to defend them.

Yet he doesn’t have those concerns if he decides to fully escalate the hostilities. He just has to start pressing a few buttons. Would his military obey an order to start launching nukes and lighting off World War 3, with most of the planet currently aligned against Russia? Or would they stage a quick coup, remove Putin, and install someone with fewer suicidal tendencies? I certainly hope that none of you are cheerleading for a nuclear war, but while a coup in Moscow would be destabilizing in some ways, it might be just what the Russian people need to break free from Mad Vlad’s spell.