The Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, has been addressing a military parade in Kiev to mark the 24th anniversary of Ukraine's independence from Moscow.

More than 2,000 soldiers took part in the ceremony, in heart of the capital, Kiev.

In his speech, Mr Poroshenko compared "New Russia", the territory that pro-Russian troops want to create in eastern Ukraine, to Mordor, the fictional evil country in J.R.R. Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" books.

David Stern reports.