Zelensky vows more 'retribution' for Russia

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".

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".

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 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.