Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Ukraine will soon be able to attack “any point” of the Russian federation that is a “source of danger” to his country and people.

Speaking on Ukrainian Independence Day, Mr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, said that Russia wanted to “destroy” Ukraine but war has “returned to its home”.

“Our enemy will know…. that, sooner or later, a Ukrainian response will reach any point in the Russian federation that is a source of danger to the life of our state or our people,” he said.

Mr Zelensky’s 13-minute video address was recorded in the border area from which Kyiv launched its surprise incursion into Russia – an invasion which continues to rattle Moscow – and released to mark 33 years of independence from the Soviet Union.

He also announced that Ukrainian forces had carried out “successful” tests of a new drone missile, and called Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, a “sick man from Red Square who constantly threatens everyone with the red button”.

Mr Zelensky continued: “And the one who wanted to turn our land into a buffer zone should think about preventing his country from becoming a buffer federation.”

The Ukrainian president then signed several laws targeting Russia, including a law banning the Moscow branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

Ukraine has been seeking to distance itself from the Russian church since 2014 and the efforts have accelerated since Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Russia’s invasion has been backed by Patriarch Kirill, the country’s Orthodox Church leader, a staunch ally of Putin.

Russia slammed the move as “illegal”. Mr Zelensky said that “Ukrainian Orthodox [church] today is taking a step towards liberation from Moscow’s devils”.

Mr Zelensky also ratified the Rome Statute, which paves the way for Ukraine to join the International Criminal Court, and could increase the chances of Russia being prosecuted for war crimes since the start of Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, was among the international figures who sent messages of support to Ukraine to coincide with its independence day commemorations.

“To the people of Ukraine from the people of Britain, we send you our warmest wishes as you mark your independence day,” Sir Keir said on social media.

“I want you to know that we stand with you for as long as it takes, with whatever it takes until victory, until a just and lasting peace.”

Mr Zelensky later held official celebrations on Kyiv’s Sofia Square alongside Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, and Ingrida Simonyte, the Lithuanian prime minister.

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Zelensky vows more 'retribution' for Russia as POWs exchanged

President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed more "retribution" against Russia on Ukrainian Independence Day Saturday, 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", 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.

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".

- Putin briefed on 'invading enemy forces' -

He called President Vladimir Putin a "sick man from Red Square who constantly threatens everyone with the red button", referring to nuclear war.

Zelensky later said that one of the "goals" of Kyiv's Kursk operation was to show Russians "what is more important to him (Putin): the occupation of the territories of Ukraine or the protection of his population".

Kyiv has also said that the Kursk offensive is aimed at stretching Russia's reserves from eastern Ukraine.

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.

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

- Boy watches body being removed -

As Ukraine celebrated independence, Kyiv said a Russian strike on a residential of the easter city of Kostyantynivka, which lies near the frontline in the Donetsk region, killed five people.

AFP witnessed a young boy and his dog walk up to a body, covered by a sheet, on the side of the road and watch as rescuers rushed to remove it.

People embraced standing next to another body, covered by a silver sheet, before emergency services removed it in a black body back.

Ukraine has also carried out some evacuations from the hub of Pokrovsk amid fears it will fall to advancing Russian forces.

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

Zelensky published photographs of men wrapped in Ukrainian flags, and Kyiv's ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said dozens of them included Azovstal fighters from the epic 2022 battle for the steelworks in Mariupol.

Ukraine has said one of the aims of its Kursk operation was to trade Russian captives for its men being held in Russia.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday reaffirmed Berlin's "continued and unwavering solidarity" with Ukraine, despite a planned reduction in Berlin's budget for military aid to Kyiv next year.

Other European leaders also showed their support, with the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell saying that Ukraine's "existential fight" was also "existential for the EU".

"Dear Ukrainians...the day approaches when we welcome you in the EU," European Council President Charles Michel wrote on X.

- Young Russian servicemen freed -

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".

Russia said the troops were currently in Belarus and will be brought to Russia soon.

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".

Ukraine has been seeking to distance itself from the Russian church since 2014 and those efforts have accelerated since Russia's 2022 invasion.

Moscow's Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill on Saturday accusing Ukraine of "persecuting" believers with the ban, urging the international community to speak out.

Kirill is a firm backer of the invasion and staunch Putin ally, and earlier this week the Russian Church compared Ukraine's law to "persecutions in the Roman Empire in the times of Nero and Diocletian".

- Voronezh attack -

As Zelensky vowed more retribution for Russia, Ukraine's military intelligence said it had carried out a "successful" attack on an ammunition depot in Russia's southern Voronezh region, near the town of Ostrogozhsk.

Russia said Saturday its air defences had destroyed seven Ukrainian drones over its southern Voronezh region and Belgorod and Bryansk border regions, with the Voronezh governor reporting the evacuation of a village.

Voronezh governor Alexander Gusev earlier said a state of emergency was declared in the Ostrogozhsk district after drone strikes, with 200 people evacuated from one village.

Gusev did not say exactly what was struck but said one woman was hospitalised in a "serious condition".

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