By Farberov
Ukraine’s blue-and-yellow flag was raised on Snake Island Monday, just days after Russian forces withdrew from the strategic Black Sea outpost following months of occupation.
“The military operation has been concluded, and.. the territory (Snake Island) has been returned to the jurisdiction of Ukraine,” Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, told a news conference.
Russia said it had pulled out from Snake Island on Thursday as a “gesture of goodwill” to show it was not obstructing United Nations attempts to open a humanitarian corridor allowing grain to be shipped from Ukraine.
However, Ukraine said it had forced Russian troops to flee the island after an artillery and missile assault.
The following day, Russia bombed a nine-story building and a recreation center near the port city of Odessa, killing at least 21 civilians.
“The occupiers cannot win on the battlefield, so they resort to vile killing of civilians,” Ivan Bakanov, the head of Ukraine’s security service, SBU, said. “After the enemy was dislodged from Snake Island, [they] decided to respond with the cynical shelling of civilian targets.”
Snake Island became internationally known after a Ukrainian solider was recorded telling a Russian warship to “go f–k yourself” on the first day of the war.
The fighter’s profane message has become a rallying cry of Ukraine’s resistance and inspired the creation of a commemorative stamp featuring the image of a soldier giving the middle finger to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva, which was later sunk.
Some analysts have said Russia’s retreat from Snake Island off Ukraine’s southwestern coast could loosen its blockade on Ukrainian ports.
But a Kyiv-based foreign diplomat told Reuters it was still not enough to allow for safe transit of Ukrainian grain.
“There is a requirement for demining, and Russia still has capabilities (military vessels, costal defense systems and air superiority) that will allow them to interdict shipping lanes,” the diplomat said.
To unblock its ports so it can ship grain, Ukraine would need allied support and for Turkey to play a key role, the diplomat added.
Just days after Russians withdrew from Snake Island, President Vladimir Putin proclaimed victory in the months-long battle of Luhansk after the fall of Lysychansk Sunday.
Kremlin brought the full might of its ground forces to bear on the small city for two months in order to complete its conquest of one of two regions it has demanded Ukraine to cede to pro-Moscow separatists in the contested Donbas region.
Serhiy Gaidai, Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, acknowledged that his entire province was now effectively in Russian hands, but told Reuters: “We need to win the war, not the battle for Lysychansk… It hurts a lot, but it’s not losing the war.”
Gaidai said the Ukrainian forces that retreated from Lysychansk were now holding the line between Bakhmut and Sloviansk, preparing to fend off a further Russian advance.
In his nightly video address Sunday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed to regain lost territory with the help of long-range Western weapons.
“We will rebuild the walls, we will win back the land, and people must be protected above all else,” Zelenskiy said.
