On Saturday, Ukrainian Independence Day, President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged greater “retribution” against Russia, but just over two weeks into Ukraine’s unexpected onslaught on Kursk, Kyiv and Moscow announced the exchange of 230 prisoners.
In addition, Zelensky approved a bill outlawing the branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with ties to Russia. Calling the law a “liberation from Moscow’s devils,” the Orthodox leader of Russia took offense. 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 said to be near where Ukraine launched its shock incursion from on August 6. “What the enemy brought to our land has now returned to its home”, he said, adding that Russia will “know what retribution is”.
