• A former NATO commander says Russian President Vladimir Putin wants “control of Eastern Europe”.
• Back. General Wesley Clark said the best way to protect NATO is therefore to help Ukraine defeat Russia.
• He called on the United States to step up military aid to Ukraine, especially with fighter jets.

A former NATO commander has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s real aims in attacking Ukraine were to establish “control of Eastern Europe” and “break up” the alliance.

During an interview with CNN on Sunday, Retired four-star US general Wesley Clark also urged the West to supply more weapons to kyiv.

“He wants Ukraine. He wants the Baltic states. He wants control of Eastern Europe. He wants to break up NATO and he wants the United States out,” he said.

Clark, who is a military analyst for CNN and served as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe from 1997 to 2000, said Putin wanted to “disrupt the international system” and make the West believe “emotionally ” and “morally disarmed” that his ambitions extend only to Ukraine.

He also called on the United States and its NATO allies to step up military aid to Ukraine, particularly with fighter jets – an area the Pentagon has refused to help in, after rejecting a Polish plan to supply kyiv with MIG-29 aircraft.

“Ukraine is just the current battleground. But if the Ukrainians beat Russia on this battleground, everything will change,” Clark said. “So the best way to protect NATO, the best way to protect the international system is to give Ukraine the help it says it needs and let it manage Russia on the battlefield.”

While US military campaigns for the past 50 years were all about helping countries “not so prepared to fight,” the war in Ukraine is different, he noted.

“Now we have a first world country. Their soldiers have as good an education as ours. They are as good technically as we are. We give them our modern weapons, they can use them in 24 hours,” Clark mentioned.

“So we’re going to have to listen better to the Ukrainians to find out what they need and provide them with the equipment they say they need,” he added.

The retired general said Russian forces would next seek to capture the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro to cut off Ukrainian troops in the Donbass region, where Moscow has recognized two separatist territories as ‘Independent States.

To repel Russia’s advance toward Dnipro, Ukraine would need “heavy combat equipment” beyond what the United States has provided so far, Clark said.

“Not Javelins, not Stingers. It’s good to help defend cities. They need tanks, they need mobile artillery, they need lots of ammo. They need fuel, they need need repairs. We don’t have that for them,” he told CNN. , referring to the Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.

The war in Ukraine is set to enter its 39th day on Monday. At least 1,417 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the fighting and shelling raging in the country, and 2,038 have been injured, according to the UNwho also noted that the actual numbers are likely much higher.