Russia’s retreat from Snake Island gives hope
Russian forces have abandoned Ukraine’s Snake Island ending one of the longest-running battles of the war in a victory for Kyiv that raises hopes that a blockade on critical grain exports from Odesa could be lifted.
The Russian evacuation followed intense Ukrainian artillery bombardments and is likely to be hailed as proof that Western-supplied weapons can turn the war.
Moscow’s ministry of defence said its forces evacuated the island as a “goodwill gesture” to demonstrate that Russia is not impeding United Nations efforts to reopen sea lanes to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. “To organise humanitarian grain corridors as part of the implementation of joint agreements reached with the participation of the UN, the Russian Federation decided to leave its positions on Zmiinyi Island,” it said yesterday.
Unofficial pro-Russian Telegram channels disputed that account, saying the withdrawal was forced by shelling from Western-supplied artillery that made holding the island a “suicide” mission.
Satellite images published shortly after the attack showed smoke billowing from the jetty on the north of the island, with another smouldering location inland.
Snake Island is believed to be the burial place of Achilles. Russia seized it on the first day of the war, when a landing force led by the cruiser Moskva ordered the tiny garrison of border guards to surrender.
The reply — “Russian warship, f *** off ” — became a popular slogan of resistance.
It was initially reported that the border guards were killed in the subsequent bombardment but they were later released as part of a prisoner swap.
Russia wanted to hold the island to support an amphibious assault to capture Odesa. Those plans were shelved after Russia’s blitzkrieg collapsed in March, but control of the island became crucial to the war of economic attrition.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of deterring civilian shipping from using Ukraine’s southern ports of Odesa and Mykoliaev in order to strangle millions of tons of grain exports destined for Africa and the Middle East and sparking a global food crisis.
Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine’s defence intelligence chief, said in May that whoever controlled the island controlled “the surface, and to some extent the air, situation in southern Ukraine”.
Ukraine has not commented in detail on which foreign weapons were deployed in the battle for Snake Island.