Snake Island battle rages

Kremlin claims to inflict heavy casualties on Ukrainian forces by repelling attempt to reclaim small Black Sea outcrop

Russia’s defence ministry said it had repelled Ukrainian efforts to reclaim Snake Island in the Black Sea and had inflicted heavy losses in terms of men, vessels and aircraft in doing so.

It was not possible to independently verify the claims. Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said earlier in a YouTube interview that Ukraine was not trying to recapture Snake (Zmiinyi) Island as it was far easier to continue hitting Russian targets there.

The island, a small outcrop in the Black Sea some 35km south of the city of Odesa, was the setting for one of the landmark exchanges between Ukrainian and Russian forces at the start of the war in late February when Ukrainian border guards told a Russian warship to “go f*** yourself” after it demanded they surrender.

Russia said Ukrainian forces had attempted to retake the island on Sunday, the eve of Russia’s Victory Day anniversary to mark the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

“This adventure ended in disaster for Ukraine,” said defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

Konashenkov said Ukraine lost four aircraft, 10 helicopters, 29 drones, three armoured assault craft and more than 50 “Ukrainian saboteurs” in the fight for the island. He said eight Turkishmade Bayraktar TB2 drones were shot down over two days this week.

“As a result of a foolish provocation by [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky only during the landing and an attempt to establish a foothold on the island more than 50 Ukrainian saboteurs were destroyed. Twenty-four bodies of the killed Ukrainian servicemen remain on the shore of Snake Island,” Konashenkov said, according to Russian state news agency Tass.

In a series of tweets yesterday, the British Ministry of Defence said Ukrainian drone attacks were preventing Russian troops from making further gains in the western region of the Black Sea.

“Fighting continues at Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake Island, with Russia repeatedly trying to reinforce its exposed garrison located there,” the ministry wrote on its Twitter feed.

Ukraine has successfully struck Russian air defences and resupply vessels using Bayraktar drones, according to British analysts.

Russian resupply vessels have minimal protection in the western Black Sea, following the navy’s retreat to Crimea after the loss of the guided missile cruiser Moskva, they said.

The Ukrainians attacked the vessel, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet – loaded with military supplies and artillery – on April 14, with land-based anti-ship missiles.

It is still unclear how many casualties resulted from the attack. Moscow claimed the ship sank due to a fire on board.

This week, the United States said it shared intelligence with Ukraine about the location of the warship before the strike.

Meanwhile, the state-run Ukrinform news agency reported that Colonel Ihor Bedzai, the deputy commander of the Ukrainian Navy, was killed in action.

Bedzai was “killed by a missile from a Russian fighter jet” during a combat mission as part of the Mi-14 naval helicopter crew, Ukrinform reported.

The report cited a Facebook post by Taras Chmut, director of the Come Back Alive charitable foundation.

Chmut did not disclose in what battle and when Bedzai was killed.

As a result of a foolish provocation … more than 50 Ukrainian saboteurs were destroyed RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY