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August 25, 2024 – 04:02
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed Saturday to face “retribution” from Russia for invading his country and signed into law a law outlawing the Moscow-linked Orthodox Church, marking the 33rd anniversary of the former Soviet republic’s independence.
The two countries also announced the exchange of 230 prisoners of war – 115 on each side – following negotiations mediated by the United Arab Emirates.
Ukrainian forces, which have been resisting a Russian invasion for two and a half years and are struggling to contain the onslaught in the east of the country, brought the war into Russian territory on August 6, seizing dozens of towns in the Kursk region.
Russia wanted to “destroy us” but the war “came home,” Zelensky said in a video recorded, he said, in the border area from where his troops launched the first incursion into Russian soil by a foreign army since World War II.
Ukraine has once again “surprised” Russia, which “will know what retaliation is,” the president said.
In Russia, President Vladimir Putin held talks with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov about “the fight against enemy forces invading the Kursk region and measures taken to destroy them,” the Kremlin reported.
These statements contrast with the attitude that has prevailed until now, which is to minimize the impact of the Ukrainian military operation.
– Exchange of prisoners of war –
Despite the warlike proclamations, the two countries announced a new exchange of prisoners of war, 115 on each side, including soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region.
According to Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, 82 of the 115 prisoners recovered by kyiv participated in 2022 in the defence of the Azovstal factory during the Russian siege of Mariupol, a major milestone in the war that began with the Russian invasion in February of that year.
The United Arab Emirates, which acted as mediator, called for a “de-escalation” as “the only way to resolve the conflict.”
Zelensky took part in the celebrations of the anniversary of independence in kyiv’s Hagia Sophia Square, alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda and Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte, two important supporters of Ukraine against Russia.
The president revealed that Ukrainian forces had successfully tested a new weapon, the “Palianytsia” drone missile, “much faster and more powerful” than the drones they currently have.
German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz, whose government plans to reduce military aid to kyiv next year, reaffirmed in a message Germany’s “continued and unwavering solidarity” with Ukraine.
The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said on social media that Ukraine’s “existential struggle” against Russia was “also an existential struggle for the EU.”
– Russian Orthodox Church banned –
Zelensky also signed into law a law banning the activities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which has long been the country’s main religion.
The Christian denomination cut its ties with Moscow in 2022, but Ukrainian authorities continued to consider it under Russian influence and multiplied legal actions that led to the imprisonment of dozens of priests.
“Today, Ukrainian Orthodox Christians are taking a step towards freeing themselves from the demons of Moscow,” Zelensky said.
The Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, accused the Ukrainian authorities of “persecuting” the faithful and called on the leaders of other Christian denominations and international organisations to “raise their voices in defence of persecuted believers”.
– Russian advance in Donbas –
The Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s Kursk region has attracted worldwide attention because it has brought hostilities into the attacker’s territory, but the epicentre of the fighting remains the Donbas basin in Ukraine’s industrial east, where Russian troops are better equipped and more numerous.
Russian forces are now approaching Pokrovsk, a major logistics hub for some 53,000 people, which authorities have called for an urgent evacuation.
Russian airstrikes killed five people and wounded five others in Kostiantinivka, another major town in the region, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Belgorod region reported five dead and 12 wounded in a Ukrainian airstrike on Sunday.
Ukraine said it had bombed an ammunition depot in the Voronezh region in western Russia.
According to Ukraine, its incursion into Russian soil is aimed at creating a “buffer zone” that will keep Russian bombing platforms away, as well as using these regions as bargaining chips in possible “fair” peace negotiations.
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