Russians flee island but push on in eastern fight
RUSSIA has pulled back its forces from a strategically placed Black Sea island where troops have faced relentless Ukrainian attacks, but kept up its push to encircle the last bulwark of Ukraine’s resistance in the eastern province of Luhansk.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it withdrew its forces from Snake Island off Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa in what it described as a “goodwill gesture”.
Ukraine’s military said the Russians fled the island in two speedboats following a barrage of Ukrainian artillery and missile strikes.
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Lt Gen Igor Konashenkov said the withdrawal was intended to demonstrate that “the Russian Federation wasn’t hampering the United Nations’ efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor for taking agricultural products from the territory of Ukraine”.
Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of blockading Ukrainian ports to prevent the exports of grain, contributing to the global food crisis.
Russia has denied the accusations and claimed that Ukraine needs to remove sea mines from the Black Sea to allow safe navigation.
Turkey has sought to broker a deal on unblocking grain exports from Ukraine, but the talks have dragged on without any sign of quick progress with Kyiv voicing concern that Russia could use the deal to launch an attack on Odesa.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the withdrawal of Russian troops from Snake Island is a sign that Ukraine will prevail in the war.
He said that “in the end it will prove impossible for Putin to hold down a country that will not accept” occupation.
He was speaking at the end of a Nato summit in Madrid dominated by the consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said Russia must be driven off from all the territory it has occupied since it invaded in February and that at the moment “there doesn’t seem to be anything to talk about” regarding a ceasefire.
Mr Johnson welcomed a commitment by many Nato members to increase defence spending and said the UK would raise its spending target from 2% of GDP to 2.5% by the end of the decade.
Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said member nations agreed on a “fundamental shift in our deterrence and defence” and sent Moscow a clear message that the alliance had a firm line drawn on its eastern frontier.
He said: “We want to remove any room for miscalculation, misunderstanding in Moscow, about our readiness to protect every inch of Nato territory. That’s Nato’s core responsibility.”
In the east of Ukraine, Moscow kept up its push to take control of the entire Donbas region. It is focused on the city of Lysychansk, the last remaining Ukrainian stronghold in the Luhansk province.
Russian troops and their separatist allies control 95% of
Luhansk and about half of Donetsk, the two provinces that make up the mostly Russianspeaking Donbas.
The Ukrainian General Staff said Russian troops were shelling Lysychansk and clashing with Ukrainian defenders around an oil refinery on the edge of the city.
Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said Russian reconnaissance units tried to enter Lysychansk on Wednesday, but were repelled.
He said the Russians were trying to block a major road used to deliver supplies and fully encircle the city.
Speaking on a visit to Turkmenistan yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his goals in Ukraine have not changed.
He outlined these as “the liberation of the Donbas, the protection of these people and the creation of conditions that would guarantee the security of Russia itself ”.
Mr Putin made no mention of his original stated goals to “demilitarise” and “de-Nazify” Ukraine.