Putin’s pincer plan to seize Donbas within WEEKS: How march on Kharkiv is ‘feint to capture prized region once and for all’

VLADIMIR Putin is plotting to seize the Donbass region in just a few weeks while distracting Kiev’s forces on the northern front, military experts warn.

The new offensive in Kharkiv could be Moscow’s ultimate mistake – stretching and distracting Ukraine to finally conquer the prized eastern region in June.

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Professor Michael Clarke, former director of the British think tank RUSI, argued that in the coming weeks Kremlin troops will attack Donbass from the north and south in a pincer movement to take over everything.

Speaking to The Sun, he said that for more than a month Russian forces have been stretching Ukraine along its entire 600-mile front “putting pressure everywhere at once”.

In a bid to beat incoming Western arms shipments by allowing Ukraine to bolster its defenses, Russia is on a “timetable to get something done quickly,” Clark said.

“It’s a big semicircle and they’re trying to attack everywhere at the same time,” he argued.

But the Kremlin’s ultimate plan, Clarke argued, is to conquer the entire Donbass region of eastern Ukraine once and for all.

On May 10, Russia began a major new offensive in the northeast, in the Kharkiv region, after amassing more than half a million troops who appeared poised to march west.

Ukraine is desperately trying to hold the line as Moscow launches troops into meat-grinder attacks, seizing key villages and towns in its fastest advance in months.

By June or July, if they are lucky, the Russians may have conquered all of Donbass

Professor Michael Clarke

And yet, Clarke believes this is a cruel deception, designed to lure Kiev’s troops north, while most of Moscow’s troops are actually preparing to turn east and march south.

He said: “It’s a two-pronged offensive, as I see it.”

Russian advances on two fronts underscore the severe shortages of ammunition and manpower that have crippled the Ukrainian military and opened the way for the Kremlin army to erode Ukrainian territory.

General Sir Richard Sherriff, former deputy supreme commander of NATO, also fears that Putin’s next ultimate objective will be the East and not the North.

He told The Sun: “The latest offensive appears to be causing real problems for the Ukrainians.

“This could allow the Russians to – if they launch an effective attack in the north, force Ukraine to lower its defenses around the southeast.” [of Donbas].

“This could allow Russia to concentrate its forces in the Donbas and break through there and encircle Ukrainian defenses while gaining significant ground.”

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ENJOYING DONBAS

Although Ukraine is terrified that Russia will head towards the city of Kharkiv after weeks of constant bombing, Professor Clarke argues that this is probably not its strategy.

“Kharkiv is a big city,” he said, adding that they were likely to keep up the pressure.

“But they can just sit back and do what they’re good at, which is bomb residential areas until everything turns to rubble and then plant a flag in the rubble.”

Instead, the border town of Vovchansk – where fierce street battles took place following the entry of Russian troops this week – will likely be more crucial, he argued.

“If they manage to take Vovchansk, I think they will head east to join the forces coming west from Kupiyansk.”

And then the game began.

By creating a northern front in the Kharkiv region, “it will create a united force from west to east that will then head south to link up with Chasiv Yar’s forces heading north – and take Slovyansk and Kramatorsk.”

He stated that these two main cities are the gateway to the rest of Donbass.

“That would make perfect sense to me – between now and the end of June or July, if they’re lucky, the Russians could have taken over all of Donbas.”

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