Ukraine's military chief has said his forces would defend the country "until the last drop of blood" as he urged people to calm down about threats of a new Russian invasion.

Lieutenant-General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, 48, repeatedly underlined that Ukraine has been at war with Russia since 2014, telling Sky News in an exclusive interview: "It is absolutely no news to us".

"Of course I understand what are they talking about, people are negotiating," he said, sitting on a chair in a meeting room at the Ministry of Defence in Kyiv on Monday evening.

"But… my mission is to prepare and sustain the armed forces for their intended task - to defend the state."

"I want to calm the people down so that they sleep calmly in their home," Lieutenant General Zaluzhnyi said.

"So I will repeat that our armed forces have been at war for eight years. They carry out military operations in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and they are ready to conduct them in other regions."

https://ca.yahoo.com/news/ukraine-defend-ourselves-against-russia-051900613.html