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RIGA, Latvia – Russian forces say they have withdrawn from Ukraine’s Snake Island, a heavily contested stretch of land in the Black Sea that they seized shortly after the war began, representing a small but strategic victory for Ukraine on Thursday.
Their withdrawal gave a welcome moral boost to Ukraine as it continued a bloody and difficult battle to the east, where artillery exchanges and a shift in control of vital terrain led to several recent victories.
On Thursday, President Biden told a NATO meeting in Madrid that the United States would provide another $ 800 million in security assistance to Ukraine, adding to the billions provided by the United States and European allies, and signaling what analysts believe will be a sustainable conflict. Biden also announced an increase in the US military presence in Eastern Europe, although part of the movement was considered months and years before the invasion.
The alliance will support Ukraine “as much as necessary,” Biden said, promising to “protect every inch of NATO territory.” Before the war, he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that invading Ukraine would only make NATO stronger. “That’s exactly what we see today,” he said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry described the withdrawal from Snake Island as a “gesture of goodwill” and an effort to create a humanitarian corridor for the export of agricultural products such as grain from Ukraine. However, officials in the nearby southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa said Russian troops had only been evacuated after prolonged rocket and artillery strikes by Ukrainian forces.
Snake Island, also known as Snake Island, is about 25 miles off the south coast and is a critical outpost for controlling shipping lanes for Ukrainian grain exports and access to the key port of Odessa.
Applied by
Russia in
2014
Source: Maxar via Google Earth
Applied by
Russia in
2014
Source: Maxar via Google Earth
Applied by
Russia in 2014
Source: Maxar via Google Earth
“On June 30, as a gesture of goodwill, the Russian armed forces fulfilled their assigned tasks on Snake Island and withdrew the garrison stationed there,” a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“[We] demonstrates to the world community that the Russian Federation does not hinder UN efforts to organize a humanitarian corridor for the export of agricultural products from the territory of Ukraine.
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The Russian army he had previously described the withdrawal from Kyiv and other parts of central Ukraine as a “gesture of goodwill” after facing fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces and suffering heavy losses.
The defense ministry added in a statement Thursday that it “now depends on Ukraine” to clear its ports of mines and resume grain supplies.
The war disrupted vital shipping lanes, leaving tons of Ukrainian agricultural goods blocked in silos. Western leaders have accused Moscow of holding food countries hostage by cutting off supplies and contributing to global hunger.
Moscow has responded by saying it will not block grain supplies or use the removal of mines from ports as an opportunity to resume the attack on Odessa, but Ukrainian authorities are wary of such assurances.
Western analysts have called Russia’s expulsion from Snake Island a symbolic and strategic victory for Kyiv. For the Russian forces, said Mason Clark of the Institute for War Studies, it was an “important defeat.” He noted that the Kremlin needs the island “to threaten the sea route to Odessa on the Romanian coast, which is the safest way for ships to circumvent Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian grain and other exports.”
Still, Jeffrey Edmunds, a senior analyst at the Virginia-based Center for Naval Analysis, said that while the loss of Snake Island had removed some Russian capabilities from the equation, its fleet could still threaten the trade in warships and submarines.
“Militarily, this has weakened the blockade,” he said, “but it is not essential to the blockade.”
Covering only 0.06 square miles, Snake Island entered the headlines in the early days of the war, when the crew of a Russian warship ordered a small team of Ukrainian border guards to surrender or face an attack. The Ukrainians responded with a harsh insult, prompting the Russians to open fire.
The insurgents were initially thought to have been killed, but were later said to have been captured. Their challenge has been celebrated throughout Ukraine with stamps and posters and has been hailed as a unifying moment in the defense of their country.
Ukraine’s armed forces confirmed Russia’s withdrawal on its Facebook page on Thursday and thanked fighters in nearby Odessa for helping to rebuild “strategically important” territory.
“KABOOM! There are no more Russian troops on Snake Island. “Our armed forces have done a great job,” tweeted Andrei Ermak, head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
KABOOM!
There are no more Russian troops on Snake Island. Our armed forces have done a great job. Expect more news from kaboom. Everything will be 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/ItdP3oQvHK
– Andrew Yermak (@AndriyYermak) June 30, 2022
The Ukrainian military recently went on a renewed mission to retake the island and launched numerous attacks on Russian forces there.
Last week, Ukraine’s southern operational command said it had used “targeted strikes using various forces” on Snake Island, causing “significant losses” among Russian troops and destroying Russian air defense systems, radars and vehicles.
The announcement of Russia’s withdrawal came just days after Moscow boasted that it had repulsed Ukraine’s attacks by destroying more than a dozen drones and 21 incoming missiles. The Washington Post could not independently verify these allegations.
Ukraine’s success in its pursuit of Snake Island is due in part to new arms supplies from the West. British intelligence estimates that with the help of donated anti-ship missiles Harpoon Ukraine “almost certainly” managed to sink the Russian naval tug “Rescuer Vasily Bekh”, which supplied Russian weapons and personnel to Snake Island.
Pro-Russian military reporters and bloggers have also linked the strengthening of Ukraine’s combat capabilities to the French artillery system CAESAR, based in Odessa, as one of the reasons for the withdrawal, signaling victory for Kyiv and its Western allies. CAESAR has a firing range of about 26 miles.
“Following the transfer of the French CAESAR self-propelled howitzers and [tactical missiles] Tochka-U to Odessa region, the density of artillery fire from Odessa region has increased many times over, “wrote on Thursday a popular blogger in Telegram, known as Ribar.
In the pro-Kremlin media, Russia’s withdrawal from the island was described as a failure for Moscow, but also as a move necessary to save the lives of Russian soldiers.
Meanwhile, NATO leaders meet in Madrid on Thursday for the third and final day. President Biden announced at Wednesday’s meeting that the United States would increase its military presence on NATO territory in Europe, citing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The new deployment will include a permanent headquarters of the 5th US Army Corps in Poland.
Suliman announced from London. David Walker in the UK and Claire Parker and Alex Horton in Washington contributed to this report.
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