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Since the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been a battle for Snake Island in the Black Sea.

 It was on Snake Island, also known as Zmiinyi Island, where a handful of Ukrainian soldiers refused to surrender to a Russian warship and planes. Outgunned and outmanned a hundred times over, the Ukrainians were defiant.

The island’s defenders were captured. Russia quickly occupied the island. And began moving its war weapons into the port of Odesa. But Ukraine has never conceded the area to Russia.

Despite its size, only 0.2 square kilometers or .077 square miles it has strategic purposes. It is a valuable piece of land for control over the western Black Sea.

The Russian strategy to use Snake Island to gain control over the sea, air, and land in the north-western Black Sea and southern Ukraine has had limited success.

Because of the constant Ukrainian attacks Russia was not able to maintain long-range anti-air defenses there. And they will be required to protect their navy and military assets gathering at Ukraine’s coastline.

Battle for Snake Island is a fight for control of the port

“Whoever controls the island can halt all shipping to southern Ukraine,” said Kyrylo Budanov of the Ukraine intelligence service.

In April and May Ukraine had a lot of success with bombing the Port of Odesa which the Russians also occupied. And the number of attacks on the Russian Navy ramped up in June. 

At first, the Russian defense ministry said that Ukraine made “another crazy attempt” to reclaim the island. And claimed Russia had repelled the attack and "destroyed all enemy weapons." 

Snake Island plays a critical role in the control of shipping lanes in the Black Sea. It is a strategic area to bring in weapons and supplies. And it has long been used as a sea corridor for grain distribution in and out of Ukraine.  It also serves as access to the port of Odesa.

On Facebook, the Ukraine military’s southern operational command said in a post that between June 20th and June 29th Ukraine missile strikes caused “significant losses” to Russian forces.

It is estimated that 49 soldiers lost their lives. They also destroyed a Russian Pantsir C1 air defense system, an electronic warfare station, two howitzers, and five armored vehicles on the island.

Satellite images released by Maxar Tech from June 21, confirm charred areas caused by the first hits on the base.

Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhny posted video footage of Ukrainian strikes on Snake Island. And he talked about the effectiveness of Ukraine’s Bohdana self-propelled 155mm artillery.

Russian Retreat 

Then on June 30th, the Russians left Snake Island.

Ukraine claims to now be in control. “At the moment, we control (the island) with the help of our weapons: long-range artillery, rocket units, and aviation,” reads a statement from the Ukraine military. 

The Russian Defense Ministry has described leaving Snake Island as “a goodwill gesture.” He claims the retreat demonstrates that “Russia is not interfering” with the UN's efforts to create a safe maritime trade route to export Ukrainian grain.

Ukraine strongly disputes the Russian statement saying, “There’s a lot of talk from Russia about pulling out from Snake Island being a goodwill gesture,” said Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

“Allegedly, this means Russia does not interfere with humanitarian corridors to export Ukrainian grain. That’s absolutely false.”

The size and composition of the Russian garrison at the island remain unclear, just as how much of this force Moscow managed to evacuate.

“Step by step, we will push (Russia) out of our sea, our land, our sky,” Ukraine President Zelenskyy said in his nightly address.