Russian forces withdraw from Ukraine’s strategically important Snake Island

A satellite image shows an overview of Snake Island, Ukraine, June 21, 2022. Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

Kyiv, June 30 (Reuters) – Russian forces have withdrawn from Ukraine’s Snake Island, a strategic outpost in the Black Sea, Russia’s Defense Ministry and Ukraine’s President’s Office said on Thursday.

Snake Island, which Russia occupied on the first day of its invasion, gained notoriety when Ukrainian border guards stationed there refused a Russian warship’s demand for surrender. Continue reading

“KABOOM! No more Russian troops on Snake Island. Our armed forces did a great job,” wrote Andriy Yermak, head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Twitter. Continue reading

The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the withdrawal of Russian troops from Snake Island, calling it a “goodwill gesture” and saying the troops had fulfilled their assigned duties.

The Russian ministry added that the move shows that Russia is not hampering UN efforts to organize a humanitarian corridor for exports of agricultural products from Ukraine.

Reuters was not immediately able to verify the Ukrainian and Russian accounts.

On Wednesday, after a meeting between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Russia said it was ready to work with the United Nations to tackle the risks of a global food crisis, but no concrete measures were announced at the time.

Last month, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Russia could dominate the north-western Black Sea if Russia could consolidate its position on Snake Island with strategic air defenses and coastal defense cruise missiles. Continue reading

Ukraine’s Southern Military Command wrote on Facebook that Russian forces were evacuated in two boats after an operation involving missile and artillery units.

Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Yermak said Ukrainian forces drove Russian troops off the island and Russia’s claim that the withdrawal was in good faith was false.

He reiterated Ukrainian accusations that Russia was provoking a global food crisis by blockading Ukrainian ports and attacking storage facilities.

Since Russia invaded on February 24, Ukraine’s grain shipments from its Black Sea ports have stalled, leaving millions of tons of grain stuck in silos.

Moscow says responsibility rests with Kyiv to remove mines from ports to open shipping lanes and says Western sanctions against it would worsen the situation.

A first cargo ship left the Russian-held Ukrainian port of Berdyansk in the Sea of ​​Azov in eastern Ukraine, a local official said on Thursday, after Russia said the port had been demined and was ready to resume grain shipments.

Russia and Ukraine account for almost a third of global wheat shipments, while Russia is also a major global exporter of fertilizers and Ukraine is a major exporter of corn and sunflower oil.

Reporting by Max Hunder Writing by Alexander Winning Editing by Nick Macfie and Frank Jack Daniel

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