Snake Island

Stories about Snake Island stretch back millennia to the ancient Greeks' mythological Trojan war.

- The day the stamp was issued, Ukraine sank the same Russian vessel, the Moskva, which had demanded the island surrender and which had been the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. - Stories about the island stretch back millennia to the ancient Greeks’ mythological Trojan war. Russian forces have withdrawn from Snake Island in the Black Sea in a move Ukraine hailed as a victory and Russia said showed Moscow was not seeking to hinder the United Nations’ efforts to organise a corridor for the export of Ukrainian food products.

Ukraine scores a key symbolic victory on the Black Sea island where a lone Ukrainian soldier famously tossed a salty expletive at a powerful Russian ...

The weapons: Ukraine is making use of weapons such as Javelin antitank missiles and Switchblade “kamikaze” drones, provided by the United States and other allies. The fight: A slowly regenerating Russian army is making incremental gains in eastern Ukraine against valiant but underequipped Ukrainian forces. The island, which covers just 0.06 square miles, sits on a major shipping lane and access point to the key port of Odessa. Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that its forces had “completed their assigned tasks” on the island. The latest: NATO leaders are meeting Thursday in Madrid for a third and final day. A blitz of Ukrainian artillery, rockets and airstrikes this month forced the Russians to pull out, Valery Zaluzhny, commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, wrote in a Facebook post. News of the salty verbal exchange between Russian forces aboard the Moskva and the Snake Island guards ricocheted around the world. It’s also unclear whether Ukraine will send troops back to the island. He shared video footage of missiles hitting the island and the surrounding waters. He also thanked foreign allies for weapons that aided the fight. They offered significantly different accounts of the events that led to that outcome, however. Ukraine said initially that its guards on Snake Island, a tiny piece of land about 25 miles off Ukraine’s southeastern coast, had been killed. Roman Hrybov, the Ukrainian soldier who reportedly cursed at the Russians, was released in a prisoner swap in March and given a medal for valor.

Move could loosen the grip of Russia's blockade on Ukrainian ports. Read more at straitstimes.com.

“We do not prevent the export of Ukrainian grain. Ukrainian forces have been mounting a counter-attack in the south of the region. The recovery of Snake Island was significant for the Black Sea situation but “it does not yet guarantee security. “I don’t know how it’s going to end, but it will not end with Russia defeating Ukraine,” Biden told a news conference. Ukraine says the main road out is largely impassable because of fighting, but the city is not yet fully cut off. “No Russian troops on the Snake Island anymore.

Ukraine's military said it destroyed three anti-aircraft missile systems installed by the Russian on the island.

Ukraine issued a postage stamp celebrating his defiance, and in April, destroyed the Moskva, the 600-foot flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, which had attacked the island on day 1 of the war. Parts of the Black Sea around Snake Island are believed to hold significant oil and gas reserves. The radar had been knocked out, as a result of which Russia could no longer assist its soldiers on the island. The last Russian soldiers had left on two speedboats during the night, the Ukrainian military said. Last week Ukraine had said it had caused “significant losses” to Russia in airstrikes on the island. Western commentators said on Thursday (June 30) that the retreat of the Russians marks a major setback, and likely weakens their control over shipping routes that are key to Moscow’s strategic objectives.

KYIV: Russian troops have abandoned their positions on a captured Ukrainian island, a major setback to their invasion effort that weakens their blockade of ...

Johnson had said on Tuesday that Putin would not have started the war in Ukraine if he was a woman and said the military operation was "a perfect example of toxic masculinity". "There is a lot of shelling ... The Russian army is approaching from different directions," he said in a video posted on Telegram. The Russian foreign ministry said: "In polite society, it is customary to apologise for remarks of this kind." Putin on Wednesday accused the alliance of seeking to assert its "supremacy", telling journalists in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat that Ukraine and its people are "a means" for NATO to "defend their own interests". "Ukraine can count on us for as long as it takes," NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg told the summit, as he announced a new strategic overview that focuses on the Moscow threat. The conflict in Ukraine has dominated the NATO summit in Madrid, where the leaders said Russia "is the most significant and direct threat to allies' security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area". German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed Putin's comments as "ridiculous" and said the Russian leader "has made imperialism the goal of his politics". "We are going to stick with Ukraine, and all of the alliance are going to stick with Ukraine, as long as it takes to make sure they are not defeated by Russia," he said. "I thank the defenders of Odessa region who took maximum measures to liberate a strategically important part of our territory," Valeriy Zaluzhny, the Ukraine military's commander-in-chief, said on Telegram. The Russian defence ministry statement described the retreat as "a gesture of goodwill" meant to demonstrate that Moscow will not interfere with UN efforts to organise protected grain exports from Ukraine. "In the end, it will prove impossible for Putin to hold down a country that will not accept his rule," he said. Snake Island became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the first days of the war, when the rocky outcrop's defenders told a Russian warship that called on them to surrender to "go f**k yourself", an incident that spurred a defiant meme.

KYIV, Ukraine — Russia says it has evacuated its soldiers stationed on Snake Island, the Ukrainian outpost in the Black Sea that had been invaded by Russia ...

Ukrainian control over Snake Island gives Ukraine's armed forces a chance to disrupt Russian shipping lanes in the Black Sea and weaken Russia's hold on southern Ukrainian land. A soundbite in which they told the Moskva, "Russian warship, go f--- yourself!" Ukraine's southern forces have been striking the island to take out Russian outposts in recent days.

Moscow says retreat shows 'goodwill' but Kyiv claims victory after bombardment of strategic Black Sea outpost.

Ukraine says its forces have forced Russian troops off Snake Island in the Black Sea, a claim Russia denied, with Moscow saying it withdrew its forces as a ...

Balkan countries are deeply frustrated about the impasse in their bids to join. It also follows an attack earlier this week on a crowded shopping mall in Kremenchuk, in central Ukraine, leaving at least 18 people dead and dozens more missing. "This is, I am confident, pressure being put on me for my opposition stance and my criticism of the authorities. The exact number of withdrawing troops was not disclosed. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. The other four died at a recreation center, Ukrainian emergency officials said. "The Ukrainian government’s decision to cancel visa-free visits for Russians went into effect today. The BSP, traditionally friendly toward Moscow, said they were angered by Petkov's decision to expel 70 Russian diplomatic staff for allegedly working against Sofia's interests. He was named one of three finalists for the KHL's best goalie award. It showed the ship late on July 1 anchored about 1 kilometer off Turkey's Black Sea port of Karasu. It is not clear how many died in the attack, but the soldier who sent the message survived. "KABOOM! No Russian troops on the Snake Island anymore.

It comes just a day after Moscow withdrew its forces from the rocky outcrop in the Black Sea. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Ukraine claimed the Russians were forced to retreat from the island after coming under a barrage of artillery and missile fire. The Ukrainian army on Friday accused the Russians of being unable to "respect even their own declarations". The Russian defence ministry on Thursday described the retreat as "a gesture of goodwill" meant to demonstrate that Moscow will not interfere with UN efforts to organise protected grain exports from Ukraine.

Months after Russia seized an island that became emblematic of Ukraine's resistance to Russian aggression, the country scores an important victory in the ...

"This is a Russian warship. Snake Island was a strategically important gain for Russia, because it effectively meant it had enough control of the Black Sea to blockade the Ukrainian port of Odesa and prevent grain exports. Otherwise, you will be bombed," the Russian warship Moskva allegedly broadcast. The island was captured by Russia on the first day of the invasion, when two Russian warships ordered Ukrainian border guards on the island to surrender, but they refused. It's also a symbolic victory: The island has become emblematic of the spirit of Ukrainian resistance in the face of Russian missiles and attacks. Snake Island — or Zmiinyi Island in Ukrainian — is a speck of land in the Black Sea, stretching just a fraction over 1 square kilometre.

Moscow's withdrawal from the strategic island does not significantly improve the chances of reopening Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea.

Russia’s withdrawal from Snake Island in theory creates a corridor along the western edge of the Black sea outside of the immediate reach of Russian forces that could be used for shipping. Russian forces' evacuation from Snake island is entirely for military reasons and does not constitute a goodwill gesture, nor does it significantly improve the chances of reopening Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea. Russia had attempted to use the island to more easily project force into the western Black Sea. But Ukrainian forces repeatedly destroyed Russian anti-air missile systems on Snake Island, which ultimately forced Moscow to withdraw on June 30 by barring Russian forces from establishing control of the skies overhead. Russia, however, has numerous other military capabilities at its disposal -- including mines, aircraft or even submarines -- that it could use to blockade Ukrainian ports, should it come to that.

The head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, Andriy Yermak, confirmed the withdrawal of Russian forces from the island. “No Russian troops on ...

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed it had left the small island “as a symbol of goodwill” after completing its mission there. “No Russian troops on the Snake Island anymore. Their response, “Russian warship, go f— yourself,” led to an artillery attack from the ship and Ukrainian troops were forced to surrender the island.

Russian Su-30 fighter jets flew two sorties over Snake Island dropping phosphorus bombs a day after 'goodwill' retreat.

Two sorties of Russian Su-30 fighter jets dropping phosphorus bombs were flown over the island from the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Telegram on Friday. Ukraine’s army has accused Russia of carrying out attacks using incendiary phosphorus munitions on Snake Island, just a day after Moscow withdrew its forces from the rocky outcrop in the Black Sea. Ukraine says Russia dropped phosphorus bombs on Snake Island