Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed more “retribution” against Russia on Saturday as he celebrated Independence Day near where his forces launched a surprise offensive into Russian territory two weeks ago.
Zelensky also signed a law banning the Russia-linked branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, calling the legislation a “liberation from Moscow’s devils,” drawing a sharp response from Russia’s Orthodox leader.
Kyiv marked its independence from the Soviet Union at a tense moment in the long war as it mounts a push into Russia and Moscow eyes more east Ukrainian towns.
Putin Briefed on Kursk
He called President Vladimir Putin a “sick man from Red Square who constantly threatens everyone with the red button,” referring to nuclear war.
Kyiv has said the operation aimed to capture Russian soldiers to trade for Ukrainian prisoners of war. Kyiv and Moscow on Saturday announced the exchange of 230 POWs.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with army chief Valery Gerasimov, with the Kremlin saying they had discussed “countering enemy forces invading the Kursk region and measures being taken to destroy them.”
The Kremlin’s choice of language was a break from previous statements that downplayed the surprise Ukrainian move.
Deadly Strikes
As Zelensky vowed more retribution, Ukraine’s military intelligence said on Saturday that it had carried out a “successful” attack on an ammunition depot in Russia’s southern Voronezh region, near the town of Ostrogozhsk.
An overnight Ukrainian strike in the Russian border region of Belgorod killed five people and wounded 12 others, including three children, its governor announced early on Sunday morning.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has recently carried out some evacuations from the hub of Pokrovsk amid fears it will fall to advancing Russian forces.
Prisoner Swap
Both Kyiv and Moscow said on Saturday that they had each returned 115 captive servicemen in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
Zelensky said the Kursk offensive bolstered Ukraine’s “exchange fund” of captured Russian soldiers to trade.
Widespread reports of young conscripts going missing in Kursk have filled the Russian internet in recent days.
Moscow released images of young-looking men on a bus, saying it freed 115 servicemen “taken prisoner in the Kursk region.”
‘Protecting Ukrainian Orthodoxy’
At Kyiv’s Sofia Square in front of St. Michael’s Cathedral, Zelensky said a new law banning the Russian-linked church “protects Ukrainian Orthodoxy from Moscow’s dependence.”
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Moscow’s Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill accused Ukraine on Saturday of “persecuting” believers with the ban, urging the international community to speak out.
As Ukrainians marked Independence Day, US President Joe Biden said “the war will end with Ukraine remaining a free, sovereign, and independent country.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also reaffirmed Berlin’s “continued and unwavering solidarity,” despite a planned reduction in Berlin’s budget for military aid to Kyiv next year.
With AFP
