Michael Clarke: Two villages claimed by Russia could form base – Ukraine must ‘snuff it out’
Our security and defence analyst Michael Clarke has been back answering your questions on the war in Ukraine this week.
He was asked about reports that Russia’s military has crossed into the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region and is trying to establish a foothold there.
Ukrainian battlefield analysts assessed yesterday that Russia now occupies two villages just inside the region, Zaporizke and Novohryhorivka, though Ukraine’s army denied this.
While two villages are “neither here, nor there” in territorial terms, Michael Clarke says it is vital Ukraine snuffs this threat out.
“There’s a military logic in that, because it will stretch the Ukrainians,” he says of Russia’s reported incursion there.
“Ukrainians can’t allow this to persist. So, they need to deploy forces to stop that getting any worse… they don’t want it to become a foothold, which can be a base, which can then be used for reinforcement.
“And politically, if the Russians do stay there and do build it up, then it will become a strategic advantage.”
Clarke says if he were leading Ukraine’s army, he would “sacrifice elsewhere to make sure this doesn’t happen”.