Fighting continues this Wednesday on Snake Island, according to the British Ministry of Defence. The Russian army effectively assured on Tuesday that it had fished three more bodies of “Ukrainian special forces” there in the Black Sea, bringing the total number of bodies fished after Kiev’s attempt to retake strategically important Snake Island to 27. A “failure,” according to Moscow. Why is this confetti looming over the waves at the center of an armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia? 20 Minutes explains everything about Snake Island, a strategic point in the Black Sea that has become a symbol of resistance to the Russian offensive.
Snake Island, origin of the conflict
From the first day of the conflict in Ukraine, February 24, 2022, the Russians attacked Snake Island to take it. This led to this episode, highlighted by Kyiv propaganda, during which the Ukrainian Coast Guard radioed the now-sunk Russian cruiser Moskva to “fuck” rather than surrender. From the start, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the “heroic” deaths of those soldiers who defended this small island against the Russians “to the end”.
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Many media picked up the story of these 13 martyred soldiers [treize selon certaines sources, une cinquantaine selon d’autres] before the Ukrainian Navy posted on Facebook that the soldiers were “alive and in good health.” For its part, Russian television broadcast images of these soldiers who are now being held in Crimea. This episode gave symbolic weight to this pebble, but also made this small snake island the subject of Kiev’s first major propaganda act. The government even issued a postage stamp to celebrate the event, in which we see a soldier giving the finger of honor to the Russian cruiser Moskva off the coast from behind.
Snake Island, mercilessly smashed
After claiming last week that it had bombed the island of snakes and destroyed a Russian battery, the Ukrainian army announced that it had destroyed two Russian Raptor-type patrol boats near the island using Bayraktar drones. The Le Serna, a fast landing ship with a deadweight tonnage of 45, was reportedly affected last week, the same source said on Facebook. On May 8, Kyiv reportedly destroyed a helicopter attempting to drop Russian paratroopers. According to Ukrainian media, nearly 50 Moscow soldiers were killed in these serial attacks [27 corps auraient été repêchés]. In parallel, it would turn out that dolphins would have been sent by the Russian forces on a commando mission to the Black Sea.
Snake Island, between conflict and strategy
The island of snakes is an area of ​​a few hectares [662 mètres d’est en ouest, 440 mètres du nord au sud] which offers, acc the British Ministry of Defence, an “all-around menacing platform of fire”. In fact, this tiny territory is about fifty kilometers from the mouth of the Danube, one of the most important rivers in Europe and an important trade route, about a hundred kilometers from Odessa and theoretically allows to hit the entire Ukrainian coast. Serpents’ Island is also less than 200 kilometers from the major Romanian port city of Constanta and 300 kilometers from Russia’s main base in Crimea at Sevastopol.
In times of peace, the island offers a large marine area and associated wealth, especially hydrocarbons. AFP reminds that Romania and Ukraine also had to go to court to resolve their dispute over control of these resources. The International Court of Justice finally ruled in 2009, ruling that the island was Ukrainian.
Snake Island, a future hub for Russia?
Until the start of the war in Ukraine, Snake Island was held by a small contingent of Ukrainian border guards, according to Courrier International. “Vulnerable” it has been the victim of intense Russian shelling since February 24 and, according to experts, “could become a fundamental, strategic point that needs to be monitored”. “It blocks air and sea access to the entire Ukrainian coastline, it poses a threat to the mouth of the Danube,” French Navy spokesman Captain Eric Lavault confirmed to AFP.
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And the Russians would not drop their annexation, because with such a platform, in addition to the firepower of the ships, they also wanted to secure enough “anti-aircraft equipment, anti-ship defense, but also medium-range missile systems” for the Black Sea Fleet,” said Igor Delanoe. According to the deputy director of the Franco-Russian Observatory in Moscow and a Russian Navy specialist, Snake Island is “a base that allows to be safer when approaching the Ukrainian coasts”.