Ukraine takes back Snake Island from fleeing Russians
Ukraine forces are celebrating after Russia abandoned Snake Island after being pounded for days by west-supplied long-range weapons.
Ukrainian forces were celebrating yesterday as Russian troops retreated from the strategic Black Sea outpost of Snake Island after being bombarded for days with long-range weaponry donated by western allies.
An image posted online by Ukraine’s military command showed columns of smoke billowing from the outcrop, about 90 miles south of Odesa, after the last Russians were forced to flee in two boats. Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian president, wrote on Twitter: “Kaboom! No Russian troops on the Snake Island any more. Our armed forces did a great job.” Ukrainian soldiers are expected to return soon to take control of the island.
So… Ukraine says the last Russian units have probably been evacuated from the Snake Island following a series of heavy strikes overnight.
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) June 30, 2022
If confirmed, it’s a serious victory in the Black Sea. pic.twitter.com/VukXqddxey
The Russian retreat will bolster Ukraine’s morale after a torrid week in the east of the country, where its troops have been forced to abandon the town of Severodonetsk and face mounting pressure around nearby Lysychansk as President Putin’s soldiers push to occupy the entire Donbas region.
The Kremlin called the retreat from Snake Island a “goodwill gesture” and claimed that the move was intended to show that Russia would not impede UN efforts to organise a humanitarian corridor through the Black Sea to export agricultural products out of Ukraine.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, responded on Twitter: “They always downplay their defeats this way.”
Boris Johnson, speaking at the close of the NATO summit in Madrid, said victory at Snake Island – also known as Zmiinyi – was a sign that Ukraine would prevail and that “in the end it will prove impossible for Putin to hold down a country that will not accept” occupation. He added: “We’ve seen what Ukraine can do to drive the Russians back. We’ve seen what they did around Kyiv and Kharkiv, now on Snake Island.”
The development highlights the crucial role the long-range weapons supplied by the West have assumed in Ukraine’s fight for survival. Last week Kyiv said it had used American M-777 towed howitzers situated west of Odesa to bombard Russian positions on Snake Island, which lies about 21 miles from the coast at its nearest point.
They also used M270 multiple launch rocket systems, supplied by Britain, which have a range of 50 miles.
Ukraine has recently received its first tranche of M142 high mobility artillery rocket systems from the US, which can also strike targets about 50 miles away. France has sent self-propelled 155mm Caesar artillery units, with a range of 23 miles, which are also thought to have been directed at Snake Island.
Military commanders said the domestically made Bohdana howitzers also played an important role in liberating the island.
President Biden said at the close of the NATO summit that the US would support Ukraine “as long as it takes” to ensure it was not defeated by Russia. “We are going to stick with Ukraine, and all of the alliance are going to stick with Ukraine,” he added.
He announced another $800 million weapons package for Ukraine, including air defence systems, adding to the billions of dollars in military aid the embattled nation has already received from Washington.
Ukraine’s southern operational command said yesterday that the Russian forces on Snake Island had suffered “heavy losses” during the intense bombardment over the past week. The country’s defence ministry reported earlier that Ukrainian forces had destroyed a Russian Pantsir anti-aircraft missile system on the island on Sunday night.
Snake Island was occupied by Russia on the first day of the invasion in February but became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance when news emerged of a radio exchange between a defending soldier and the commander of the Moskva, the Russian Black Sea fleet flagship. After being told to surrender, the Ukrainian soldier replied: “Russian warship, go f..k yourself.”
The Moskva sank in the Black Sea in mid-April after what Moscow claimed was an explosion on board. Ukraine and the US said the warship was hit with missiles.
Snake Island has strategic as well as symbolic value, sitting aside shipping lanes near Ukraine’s port of Odesa. British intelligence had previously warned that if Russia were able to strengthen its position on the island with strategic air defence and coastal defence cruise missiles it could dominate the northwestern part of the sea.
However, even with the withdrawal, the Russian navy still retains effective control of the waters off Ukraine’s coast.
General Sir Richard Barrons, the former head of joint forces command in Britain, said that while the occupiers had become “easy targets” for long-range weapons recently delivered to Ukraine, Russia could “get the same effects from other floating platforms with less risk”; a reference to the dominance of the Black Sea fleet. He said of Snake Island: “It had iconic rather than hard military value”.
The Times
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