Exactly two years ago, on June 30, 2022, special forces of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Military Intelligence (HUR) and the army managed to recapture theIsland of the Snakes18 hectares of land with a lighthouse, a small pier and a handful of military buildings. It was the first step towards theexpulsion of Russia since Black Sea western.
The SBU released a video with previously unpublished images of the operation, underlining “l’strategic importance”. The images show the arrival of Ukrainian soldiers by helicopter, the air attacks and the ground blitz against enemy positions. After that assault, Kiev’s forces launched a tremendously effective campaign against the Russian fleet, sinking or damaging many vessels thanks to the use of Maritime drones. Moscow’s ships were forced to retreat from the west coast of the waters surrounding the invaded country, allowing the merchant ships to resume their operations. exports of cereals from Odessa safely.
The world discovered the existence of Snake Island on February 25, 2022. In a audio spread on social media, when Vladimir Putin’s army asked them to lay down their weapons, the Ukrainian soldiers stationed there responded: “Russian ship, go fuck yourself”. The vessel involved in the episode was the Moscowsunk on April 14. It was initially thought that the soldiers on the island had been killed, but in reality they were captured and released in a prisoner exchange. Kiev dedicated a commemorative stamp to the event.
The history of the island has its roots in Greek mythology. It is said that it was raised from the waters by the nymph Thetis for her son Achilles and that the hero of the Trojan War is buried there. It was part of the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Russian empires. Between the 19th and 20th centuries it was Moldavian and then Romanian. In 1944 it was occupied by the Red Army and the Soviets installed an important radar station there. In the 1980s, gas and oil deposits were identified around the island.
The commemoration of the island’s liberation, however, is accompanied by negative news coming from other parts of the front. The Russian Defense Ministry announced the capture of two villages in Donetska region where Putin’s troops are making slow but steady progress.
The toll from Moscow’s missile attack on the city of Vilnius in the region of Vilnius has also worsened. Zaporizhzhia. The governor ofoblast’ Ivan Fedorov spoke about seven deadincluding three children, and of 36 injured.
