KYIV, Ukraine, Aug 24, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky vowed more retribution against Russia Saturday and signed a law
banning the Moscow branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as the country
celebrated its third independence day since the Russian invasion.

Zelensky addressed Ukrainians in a video filmed in the forested border area
from where Kyiv launched its surprise incursion into Russia on August 6.

Kyiv celebrates independence from the Soviet Union as the long war with
Russia has reached a dramatic moment, with Ukraine mounting the Kursk
incursion and Moscow eyeing more east Ukrainian towns.

Standing amid a hilly area a "few kilometres" from where Kyiv's forces
entered Russia, Zelensky said "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 called President Vladimir Putin a "sick man from Red Square who constantly
threatens everyone with the red button."

Ukraine's Kursk invasion has rattled Moscow, but not slowed Russia's advance
in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv has been evacuating some residents from the logistics hub of Pokrovsk in
the eastern Donetsk region, amid fears that it will fall to Russian forces.

- 'Liberation from Moscow's devils' -

Zelensky also signed into law a bill that bans the Moscow-affiliated branch
of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the war-torn country.

The Ukrainian leader said the move will strengthen his country's independence
and in an address on Saturday declared that the "Ukrainian Orthodox (church)
today is taking a step towards liberation from Moscow's devils."

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

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church officially broke away from the Moscow
patriarchy in 2022, but Ukrainian officials repeatedly accuse its clerics of
staying loyal to Russia.

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

Russia has slammed the move as "illegal".

The Russian Orthodox Church, which used to preside over a large part of
Ukrainian parishes, is furious over a historic schism in 2019 that saw the
creation of a Kyiv-based branch of the church.

This week it called the ban comparable to "persecutions in the Roman Empire
in the times of Nero and Diocletian, the so-called de-Christianisation of
France and atheist repressions in the Soviet Union."

The Moscow church called the law a "political declaration" that will affect
"hundreds of monasteries".

Under the law, a time limit is set for religious groups to break their ties
with Russia.

Russia said Saturday its air defences had destroyed seven Ukrainian drones
over its southern Voronezh region and Belgorod and Bryansk border regions.

Voronezh governor Alexander Gusev said a state of emergency was declared in
the Ostrogozhsky district after the drone strikes with 200 people evacuated
from a small village, but did not elaborate on what exactly was hit.

He said one woman was hospitalised and in a "serious condition".

Ukraine has hit Russian regions with drone attacks for months.