Ukrainian Troops Just Hoisted Their Flag On Snake Island—Then Speeded Away As Russian Missiles Rained Down

A team of Ukrainian troops riding in at least one machine-gun-armed small boat landed on Snake Island around dawn on Thursday, officially reclaiming the tiny, rocky islet 80 miles south of Odesa in the western Black Sea.

The operation took place eight days after Russian forces abandoned the 42-acre island while under heavy fire from Ukrainian artillery lobbing shells across the 20 miles of water separating the island from Ukraine’s southwestern coast.

The Thursday landing was fleeting and symbolic—but potentially morale-boosting as Ukrainian brigades complete their fighting retreat from Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and re-establish defensive lines around Siversk, Sloviansk and Bakhmut.

The Snake Island op was a reminder that Ukraine can reclaim territory in the south even as it loses it in the east. But don’t expect a permanent Ukrainian presence on the island any time soon. The Russians couldn’t maintain a garrison on the exposed island. The Ukrainians probably can’t, either.

The operation got underway early on Thursday morning, 134 days after the Russian armed forces invaded and occupied Snake Island, which lies astride the main shipping lane connecting Odesa to the Mediterranean Sea via the Bosphorous Strait. “The first to descend on the island were engineers, who cleared the passageway of mines and traps for the rest of the group,” the Ukrainian general staff announced.

Landing as the sun rose over the treeless islet, the rest of the roughly two dozen Ukrainians—from the army’s 59th Motorized Brigade as well as two special operations formations—hoisted blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags of Ukraine and took stock of abandoned and destroyed Russian equipment.

Shortly after Russian troops fled Snake Island late last month, the Russian air force bombed the 42-acre rock, apparently aiming for air-defense systems and other vehicles the defeated garrison had left behind. But the Ukrainian landing force’s photos depict at least one intact Russian tanker truck.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet took note of the Thursday landing op. “While our soldiers were doing their tasks, Russian ships began maneuvering in the direction of Snake Island,” the general staff in Kyiv stated. A Russian warplane launched missiles that slammed into the island.

Kremlin spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed “part” of the Ukrainian landing force was destroyed. But the Ukrainian general staff insisted the whole force departed the island before the missiles struck.

It’s impossible to verify which claim is true. Regardless, the quick landing and equally quick departure under fire underscores Snake Island’s exposure to bombardment—by both sides. The island is within range of Ukrainian artillery and Russian sea- and air-launched missiles.

Realistically, neither side can keep troops on the island until the balance of power in the Black Sea dramatically changes.