Ukraine Defence Chief says 'will defend country against Russia until last drop of blood'

As Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence in an official statement informed on January 11, Tuesday that the Russian Federation Armed Forces violated the ceasefire on the highly volatile Kyiv-Moscow border, Kyiv’s defence chief separately warned that his country will defend itself against Russia “until the last drop of blood” in an exclusive interview with Sky News. While the Ukrainian Army derided Moscow for violating agreements within the frameworks of the Trilateral Contact Group and launching an attack on its troops, Lieutenant General Valerii Zaluzhnyi told Sky News that his Army was closely monitoring the situation as he also urged the civilians to maintain ‘calm’. 

Ukrainian soldiers will 'cope with the emerging threat': Kyiv's Defence Chief

The 49-year-old Defence Chief reiterated that attempts of invasion by the Russian Army do not come as a surprise to Kyiv’s soldiers, adding that his forces will cope with the emerging threat. Zaluzhnyi was responding to the question by Sky News on whether he was disappointed that The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which comprises of the 30-nation defence alliance, that includes Britain and the United States, have refrained from sending any military troops to help Ukraine fight against Russia. 

This satellite image provided by ©2021 Maxar Technologies shows a Russian troop location in Bakhchysarai. [Credit: Satellite image ©2021 Maxar Technologies via AP]

As the Russian troops conducted a live-fire exercise on Ukraine's border, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held a telephonic dialogue with his Canadian counterpart Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who discussed extending Canada's military training mission with Ukraine. Trudeau reportedly discussed the prospect of more sanctions on Moscow for its ceasefire violation for the first time. In a tweet, Zelensky informed that as tensions simmered on the border, he spoke with Canadian leader Trudeau. The two discussed the security situation in Donbas, the eastern region of the country where Russian proxy forces have been fighting with the Ukrainian Army since 2014. 

Russian troops take part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region in southern Russia. [Credit: AP]

The Ukraine-Ottawa talks come on the heels of the US-Russia meeting between the senior diplomats, and military officers in Geneva, where Ukraine was not invited. The New York Times had reported that Ukrainian officials, disappointed over not being partakers to the crucial talks involving the Ukrainian crisis, quietly pursued their own negotiations with Moscow. Ukraine suspects that the US-Russia dialogue, that involves NATO, will “yield no outcome.” But the Ukrainian defence chief on Tuesday acknowledged with Sky News that the UK training mission to Kyiv since 2015 is "above important” especially when tensions were at an all-time high between the two nations over Russian President Vladimir’s agenda of Ukrainian invasion. 

'I have motherland to protect..' 

Both Zaluzhnyi and the Ukrainian president were careful not to elaborate on the political issues pertaining to the outcome of talk between the US and its NATO allies with Russia on Ukrainian national security and NATO’s ‘Open Door Policy.’ “I understand what are they talking about,” Sky News quoted the Ukrainian defence chief as saying in a meeting, held at the Ministry of Defence in Kyiv earlier. He categorically stressed, dismissing the US-led negotiations, that his focus was to prepare his armed forces for their intended task with combat readiness in order to defend the sovereignty of the state.

Zaluzhnyi iterated that the Ukrainian soldiers have been at war for nearly eight years with Russia-backed separatist forces in regions of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and they are ready to tackle Russian aggression on other fronts, should it arise. “I have motherland which I need to protect and I have the armed forces which have to be ready to defend our country,” his statement to Sky News on Tuesday read. 

Image: AP/Ukraine Defence Ministry