“On June 30, as a goodwill gesture, the Russian forces achieved their specific objectives on Snake Island and withdrew their battalion from it,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
The statement of the Ministry of Defense stressed that this initiative would “facilitate grain exports from Ukraine”, according to “AFP”.
With the beginning of the military operation in Ukraine, Russia imposed its control over “Snake Island”, which has an area of 0.17 square kilometers, a length of 662 meters and a width of 440 meters, while its highest point is about 41 meters high.
The island is located in a strategic location in the Black Sea, near the eastern coasts of Ukraine and Romania.
The island, which Ukraine tried to regain control over in the past few weeks, is of paramount strategic importance, as it represents the Russian army in its military operation, the main security gateway and the key to controlling the Black Sea.
From an economic point of view, the island is of great importance, as a large part of the continental shelf is rich in natural gas and oil reserves. By controlling it, Kyiv and Europe were deprived of control of gas and oil fields in a large area of the Ukrainian shelf.
The island also represents a gateway to the closure of the ports of Ukraine on the Black Sea completely.
Ukrainian attempts
The Ukrainian forces failed to regain the island recently, after which they targeted Russian gas extraction platforms in the region with 15 drones.
At the time, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces had detected a US Air Force Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance plane at high altitudes in the airspace of the island.
On June 21, the Southern Operations Command of the Ukrainian Army confirmed that the army had dealt a blow to Russian forces stationed on “Snake Island”, and transferred weapons and missile systems to it, explaining that it had inflicted losses on the Russians.
The Southern Operations Command of the Ukrainian army said, on its Facebook page, that “a strike was directed at the island with various weapons and means of destruction,” which resulted in “significant losses” for the Russians.
The video confirmed that “the military operation continues, and requires silence (secret information) until it ends.”
On June 17, the Ukrainian Navy announced that it had struck a Russian ship carrying air defense systems to “Snake Island”.
In a tweet on its Twitter account, the Ukrainian Navy said, “The ship Vasily Bekh was used to transport ammunition, weapons and personnel to Snake Island,” which is vital to protecting sea lanes outside Odessa’s main port.
The Ukrainian Navy did not mention the extent of the damage to the Russian ship as a result of the strike, but concluded the tweet with the words: “Moskva will never be alone,” referring to the Russian ship “Moskva” that was sunk by the Ukrainian Navy last April.
“Moskva” was the main ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which was used to control “Snake Island”.
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