WORLD [:] Russian Troops Withdraw From Ukraine’s Snake Island

Putin warns Russia will respond in kind to NATO expansion

image from article: A still image of Snake Island, Ukraine, on Thursday, as Russia said it was withdrawing its troops from the territory. 

By Yuliya Chernova, Ann M. Simmons and Stephen Kalin, The Wall Street Journal, Updated June 30, 2022 8:21 am ET; on the long history of snake island, see

Excerpt:

Russia said its forces had withdrawn from a strategically important Ukrainian island on the Black Sea even as Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wouldn’t set a deadline for the end of his war on the country, now in its fifth month.

Russia captured Snake Island at the start of the war and it has since become a symbol of Ukraine’s resistance. 

Ukraine’s southern command confirmed the pullout on Thursday morning and said it came after Ukrainian forces targeted the island with missile and artillery strikes overnight, causing the remnants of the occupying forces to evacuate in two speedboats. The statement also said the island is on fire.

Snake Island has been an offshore platform for Russia to aim weapons at Ukraine. Control over the island also allowed Russia to monitor shipments from Ukrainian ports.

It has also become part of Ukrainian lore since the first day of Russia’s invasion, when a Russian flagship, the Moskva, approached Snake Island and demanded Ukrainian troops to surrender. Their response, “Russian warship, go f— yourself,” led to an artillery attack from the ship that prompted Ukraine to surrender the island. 

image (not from article) from

Later, Ukraine sank the Moskva in what it described as retribution for the episode. Kyiv used the warship and the Snake Island slogan as a motif for a stamp it issued in the middle of the war. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops had left the small island, “as a symbol of goodwill” after completing their mission there. This, it added, demonstrates that Russia doesn’t interfere with the export of Ukrainian grain, following the wishes of the United Nations, and that it is now up to Ukraine to clear mines and allow the safe passage of cargo ships in the Black Sea. 

Snake Island, in the Black Sea, is a key battleground in the Ukraine war. Satellite images show how Russian forces are using the island to strengthen their military capabilities and block ships carrying grain, as Moscow continues its push in eastern Ukraine.

image from article: Photo composite: Eve Hartley/ Grain shipments have been thwarted during the war, with Ukraine and Russia blaming each other and causing global alarm. Many developing nations, especially in the Middle East, are dependent on Ukraine and Russia for their wheat. 

A cargo ship filled with 7,000 tons of grain left the port of Russian-occupied Berdyansk for the first time in months on Thursday, according to a regional official. The official said this was government-owned grain and that the ship is sailing toward “friendly countries.” 

Despite the retreat from Snake Island, Mr. Putin said he wouldn’t set a deadline for the end of the offensive, adding that the Russian military was progressing methodically in an effort to spare troops.

Mr. Putin said the goals of what he calls his special military operation in Ukraine were on track and would continue as planned, signaling that the war that has caused significant destruction and taken tens of thousands of civilian lives according to Ukraine, wasn’t likely to end soon.

“Nothing has changed,” he told reporters during a foreign trip late Wednesday, noting that the ultimate goal remained what he described as the “liberation” of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the protection of its people and “the creation of conditions that would guarantee the security of Russia itself.” ...

Write to Yuliya Chernova at yuliya.chernova@wsj.com, Ann M. Simmons at ann.simmons@wsj.com and Stephen Kalin at stephen.kalin@wsj.com

Comments

  1. shakistoJune 30, 2022 at 7:29 AM

    Forcing the Russians to leave a strategically important island sounds like a step forward, but maybe there are other islands which could be just as important.

    Does the name Snake Island mean that many snakes live there, maybe some poisonous ones?

    ReplyDelete

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