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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky celebrated Independence Day on Saturday near Russian territory, vowing further “revenge” against Russia two weeks after his forces launched a surprise attack near Russian territory.
Zelensky also signed a law banning branches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with ties to Russia, calling the bill “liberation from the clutches of the devil in Moscow,” prompting a strong reaction from Russian Orthodox leaders.
During a tense moment in the long war, Kiev declared independence from the Soviet Union as it pushed closer to Russia, while Moscow coveted more towns in eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky posted a video showing him standing in a hilly, forested area said to be close to the site of the August 6 raid in Ukraine.
“Whatever the enemy brought to our land, now returns to its homeland,” he said, adding that Russia “will know what revenge is”.
Putin informed the outside world about the situation of Kursk
He called President Vladimir Putin “the sick man from Red Square who keeps threatening everyone with the red button,” a reference to nuclear war.
Zelensky later said one of the goals of Kiev’s Kursk operation was to show the Russians “what is more important to him (Putin): occupying Ukrainian territory or protecting his people.”
Kiev also said the Kursk offensive was aimed at weakening Russian reserves in eastern Ukraine.
Kiev said the operation was also aimed at capturing Russian soldiers in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin met with Army Chief Valery Gerasimov, and the Kremlin said they discussed “strikes against enemy forces invading the Kursk region and measures to eliminate them.”
The Kremlin’s wording marked a departure from previous statements that had downplayed Ukraine’s unexpected move.
While Ukraine’s Kursk operation clearly angered Moscow, it did not slow Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine.
Fatal Blow
As Ukraine celebrated its independence, Kiev said Russia launched an attack on a residential area in the eastern city of Kostyantinovka near the front line in the Donetsk region, killing five people.
AFP saw a young boy and his dog walk towards a body covered by a sheet on the roadside and watch as rescuers rushed to carry the body away.
People stood and hugged next to another body, which was covered with a silver sheet before emergency workers put it away in a black body bag.
As Zelenskiy vowed harsher retaliation, Ukraine’s military intelligence service said on Saturday it had carried out a “successful” raid on an ammunition depot near the town of Ostrogozhsk in Russia’s southern Voronezh region.
The governor of the Belgorod region on the Russian border announced early Sunday that an overnight Ukrainian attack on the area had killed five people and wounded 12, including three children.
Earlier this month, Belgorod Oblast declared a state of emergency in response to the Ukrainian bombardment, and Russia said it would send more troops to defend the region in light of the invasion of neighboring Kursk, where tens of thousands of residents have fled or been evacuated.
Meanwhile, Ukraine recently carried out some evacuations from the Pokrovsk hub due to concerns that the hub could be captured by Russian forces.
Prisoner exchange
Both Kiev and Moscow said on Saturday they had each returned 115 captured soldiers under a deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.
Zelensky posted photos of men draped in Ukrainian flags, and Kyiv Ombudsman Dmytro Rubinet said some of them were fighters from the tragic 2022 battle for the Azov Steel plant in Mariupol.
Zelensky said the Battle of Kursk had strengthened Ukraine’s “exchange fund” for trading captured Russian soldiers.
In recent days, the Russian internet has been abuzz with widespread reports of the disappearance of young conscripts in Kursk.
Moscow released photos of young men on a bus it said was freeing 115 servicemen “captured in the Kursk region”.
Russia said the troops are currently in Belarus and will return to Russia soon.
“Protect the Ukrainian Orthodox Church”
Speaking at Sofia Square in front of St Michael’s Cathedral in Kiev, Zelensky said the new law banning churches with ties to Russia “protects Ukrainian Orthodoxy from Moscow’s dependence”.
Ukraine has been trying to distance itself from the Russian Church since 2014, and those efforts have accelerated since the 2022 Russian invasion.
Moscow Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill on Saturday accused Ukraine of “persecuting” believers with the ban and urged the international community to speak out.
Kirill is a staunch supporter of the invasion and a staunch ally of Putin, and earlier this week the Russian Church compared Ukraine’s laws to “the persecutions of the Roman Empire under Nero and Diocletian”.
As Ukraine celebrated its Independence Day, U.S. President Joe Biden said: “When this war ends, Ukraine will still be a free, sovereign, and independent country.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also reiterated Berlin’s “continued and unwavering solidarity” despite plans to cut its military aid budget to Kiev next year.
Other European leaders also expressed support, with the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell saying Ukraine’s “battle for survival” was “also a battle for survival for the European Union.”
European Council President Charles Michel wrote on the 10th: “Dear Ukrainians… the day will soon come when we will welcome you to join the European Union.”
Read more by Euractiv
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