Ukrainian forces have launched a major night operation to retake Snake Island, the iconic Black Sea outpost captured by Russia in the early days of the war.
The Ukrainian army said on Tuesday (East Wednesday) that it had launched airstrikes on the small island, also known as Zmiinyi Island.
The Operational Command South of the Ukrainian Army said it had used “targeted attacks with the use of various forces” on the island.
This satellite image of Snake Island published by Maxar Technologies was taken after Ukraine launched a new attack to retake the Black Sea outpost. (AP)
He said the military operation was ongoing and that “information silence” was needed until the end of the operation, he added.
Snake Island was the scene of one of the first assaults of the war in Ukraine after it began on February 24.
During the early days of the war, it was the site of a demand by a Russian warship for Ukrainian defenders to surrender.
They infamously responded with “Russian warship, fuck yourself,” a phrase that becomes a motive for Ukrainian resistance.
Russia says it has repelled the latest Ukrainian assault on the strategically important island.
“On June 20 at 5 am, the Kyiv regime undertook another crazy attempt to take possession of Snake Island,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a briefing.
He said the Ukrainian attack and reconnaissance drones were part of the airstrike while missile launchers and artillery fired at the island.
Russia claimed to have fired its 13 drones.
Meanwhile, the UK Ministry of Defense confirmed Ukraine’s claims that its military had destroyed a Russian resupply ship near Snake Island.
The ministry said Harpoon anti-missile missiles, donated by Western nations, sank the Vasily Bekh, used to transport troops, ammunition and weapons, last week.
Ukraine also tried to retake Snake Island last month.
It is located about 48 kilometers from the southern tip of the Ukrainian mainland northwest of the Black Sea.
It is also located 250 kilometers west of Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Russia annexed in 2014.
Although it is only about 18 hectares, a report last year by the US Atlantic Council think tank described it as “key to Ukraine’s maritime territorial claims” in the Black Sea.
A Russian Black Sea Fleet frigate launches a Caliber cruise missile at an undisclosed target in Ukraine. (Press service of the Ministry of Defense of Russia via AP) (AP)
Kremlin official calls Lithuanian actions “hostile”
A senior Russian official has described Lithuania’s announcement of a ban on the transport of EU-sanctioned materials to Russia via Kaliningrad, Russia’s enclave in the EU, as “hostile” and promised retaliation.
As reported by the state news agency Ria Novosti, Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, said: “Russia will certainly respond to these hostile actions. Measures are being developed in an interdepartmental format and be taken in the near future “.
Patrushev arrived in Kaliningrad on Tuesday, which lies between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic coast, to meet with its governor, Anton Alikhanov.
View of the Russian Baltic Sea enclave of Kaliningrad. Russia’s security chief said Moscow would respond to Lithuania’s decision to ban rail freight there under EU sanctions. (AP)
Lithuanian Railways, a state-owned railway company, had notified Russia that as of midnight on June 18, trains with goods subject to EU sanctions could no longer pass, Alikhanov told his telegram channel on Friday. past.
The list of banned goods published by the Kaliningrad Ministry of Economic Development includes industrial equipment, machine tools and machines for production and construction materials, as well as various luxury items, works of art and antiques and golf equipment. according to Russian state news. TASS agency.
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