Russian forces withdraw from Snake Island
Russia’s defense ministry says its forces have withdrawn from Snake Island, a highly contested island in the Black Sea that Russia occupied soon after its February invasion.
Moscow framed the move as an effort to create a humanitarian corridor for the export of agricultural products from Ukraine. Officials in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa, however, said Russian troops had evacuated following missile and artillery strikes.
In other developments, Kyiv and Moscow have traded 144 prisoners each in an exchange that saw the return of some Ukrainian fighters who defended the Azovstal steel plant during a brutal siege before Russia seized control of Mariupol. Meanwhile, Russian forces are continuing their offensive operations around Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine, where regional governor Serhiy Haidai said 15,000 civilians remain as evacuation efforts continue. “The city itself is under constant fire,” Haidai said.
Snake Island, located in the Black Sea, is a critical outpost for controlling the shipping lanes for the export of Ukrainian grain and accessing the key port of Odessa.
“On June 30, as a gesture of goodwill, the Russian Armed Forces completed their assigned tasks on Snake Island and withdrew the garrison stationed there,” the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
“[We] demonstrated to the world community that the Russian Federation does not interfere with the efforts of the UN to organize a humanitarian corridor for the export of agricultural products from the territory of Ukraine.”
Kyiv will likely dispute Russian reasons for withdrawal as the Ukrainian military has recently been on a renewed mission to retake the island and launched a series of attacks against Russian forces, claiming “a significant victory.”
Last week, Ukraine’s southern operational command said it had used “aimed strikes with the use of various forces” on Snake Island, causing “significant losses” among Russian troops and the destruction of Russian air defense systems, radars and vehicles.
British intelligence said the attacks were likely carried out with newly delivered Western weapons, namely Harpoon missiles that may thwart Russian maritime forces in the Black Sea.
Russian President Vladimir Putin still intends to capture most of Ukraine, an ambition that is likely to make the war more protracted, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines said Wednesday. The most likely scenario for the near future is an extended conflict with no significant Russian breakthrough, Haines added, characterizing the outlook as “pretty grim.”