A former Australian ambassador to Ukraine says Vladimir Putin ordering troops into separatist regions of Ukraine is a “very ominous” development, but a full scale invasion isn’t guaranteed.

The Russian President has ordered forces into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as part of a ‘peacekeeping mission’.

It comes after he recognised the two separatist territories, Donetsk and Luhansk, as independent states.

It’s not clear whether Russian troops will remain only in the territories controlled by the separatist republics, or whether they’ll seek to capture the rest of the two regions.

Former Australian ambassador to Ukraine, Doug Trappett says the action is in breach of international law and is “clearly a very ominous development”.

“It’s also a very outrageous development, as well, in the sense that Putin has been heavily supporting these rebels since at least 2014, and to think now that he has completed that process, abandoning the Minsk agreements along the way, and announcing that move, it certainly presages some sort of Russian incursion into Ukraine’s sovereign territory,” he told Neil Mitchell.

Mr Trappett says while there’s a “very, very high chance” of full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, it isn’t a certainty.

“There’s two things I can tell you with absolute 100 per cent certainty and that is that Vladimir Putin is trying to destabilise Ukraine, and secondly that Vladimir Putin is trying to destabilise the West,” he said.

“It’s not necessarily the case that invasion will absolutely follow. I think there’s a very, very high chance of it now. I’d been slightly sceptical, like the Ukrainian president, until about 24/48 hours ago.

“I think it’s looking much more likely now, but I also think he probably had the idea that he will move on Ukraine if the west lets him move on Ukraine. So it’s a question of what sort of rally happens from here to see whether he goes the full distance or whether he continues to sort of strangle the Ukrainian state.”

Press PLAY below to hear what Mr Trappett thinks will happen next in Russia-Ukraine conflict

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