Zelensky claims Ukraine will be able to respond to ‘any point’ in Russia as part of Independence Day message

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that Ukraine would soon be able to respond to “any part” of Russia, in a video to mark the country’s Independence Day said to have been filmed near the border where Kyiv launched a surprise counteroffensive earlier this month.

“Thirty-three years ago, Ukraine was reborn on the world maps, and today Ukraine is winning the hearts of the whole world,” he said in the video, noting that the nation is “an example of how not to be afraid of [Russian President Vladimir] He described Putin as a “sick old man from Red Square.”

Putin did not elaborate on Ukraine’s military capabilities, but he vowed that Ukraine’s enemies would soon learn about the Ukrainian response: “Deserved, proportionate and far-reaching. They will understand that sooner or later the Ukrainian response will reach any point in the Russian Federation that poses a threat to the life of our state and our people.”

Ukrainian forces continued their slow advance into Russia’s Kursk region on Friday, where they first crossed the border on August 6, the Institute for the Study of War said.

US officials say the operation aims to create a “buffer zone” between Moscow and eastern Ukraine.

Zelensky said that the war Russia launched 913 days ago violated “not only our sovereign borders, but also the boundaries of cruelty and common sense. It endlessly sought one thing: to destroy us. Instead, today we celebrate the 33rd day of Ukraine’s independence.”

White House and Pentagon officials continued to deny that the United States was considering changing its policy to allow Kyiv to use U.S.-supplied weapons wherever it wanted.

America currently limits the use of these weapons to specific areas near the border.

Officials, Politico reportedHe asserts that Ukraine is capable of winning the war even under the restrictions imposed by the United States.

In a separate operation, Russia and Ukraine carried out a prisoner swap on Saturday, with 115 prisoners from each side returning home.

With mail wires.