General Oleksandr Syrskyi tells Sky News his forces are 'ready and capable and we will not give up a single metre of Ukrainian land without a fight'. He estimates the current number of Russian soldiers around his country's borders to be about 120,000.
"We are ready, and we warn them: 'It won't be a simple walk in the park. Each metre of that land will be flooded with the occupants' [other side's] blood.The commander, a veteran of Ukraine's eight-year war with, said the current number of Russian forces around his country's borders was about 120,000 soldiers - rising to 140,000 service personnel in total if the navy and air force are included.
There has also been frantic diplomacy with the Kremlin to try to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis - one of the gravest for Europe since World War Two.on Monday, with French officials briefing afterwards that Russia would withdraw its forces from Belarus after they finish their exercise on 20 February.Asked whether he trusted this assurance, General Syrskyi, switching briefly from Ukrainian to English, said:"I don't know.
"It is impossible for us not to react to the concentration of Russian forces currently undergoing training up north along the Belarusian border. Ukrainian forces on this frontline come under near daily fire from Russia-backed separatists who hold positions only a few dozen metres away.The Russian Navy's landing ship Olenegorsky Gornyak sets sail in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Black Sea
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