Zelensky vows more ‘retribution’ for Russia

President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed more “retribution” against Russia on Ukrainian Independence Day yesterday, as Kyiv and Moscow announced the exchange of 230 prisoners just over two weeks into Ukraine’s surprise offensive on Kursk.

Zelensky also signed a law banning the Russian-linked branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and called the legislation a “liberation from Moscow’s devils”.

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.

Zelensky published a video of him standing in a hilly, forested area filmed near from where Ukraine launched its shock incursion on August 6.

“Russia was seeking one thing: to destroy us… Instead, today we celebrate the 33rd Independence Day of Ukraine and what the enemy brought to our land has now returned to its home,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader said Russia will “know what retribution is” and called President Vladimir Putin a “sick man from Red Square who constantly threatens everyone with the red button,” referring to nuclear war.

Soon afterwards, Ukraine’s military intelligence said it had carried out a “successful” attack on an ammunition depot in Russia’s southern Voronezh region.

Zelensky held official independence celebrations on Kyiv’s Sofia Square, with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.

In Russia, President 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 Ukrainian surprise move.

While it has visibly rattled Moscow, Ukraine’s Kursk operation has not slowed Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv yesterday said that a Russian bombardment in the eastern city of Kostyantynivka had killed five people and Ukraine has carried out evacuations from the hub of Pokrovsk amid fears it will fall.

Both Kyiv and Moscow said they had returned 115 captive servicemen each in a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.

Kyiv had said one of the aims of its Kursk operation was to gain more Russian captives to get back its men from Russia. There were widespread reports in Russia of young conscripts going missing in Kursk.

Ukraine yesterday also ratified a statute that paves the way for Ukraine to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).