Sting in the tail! The moment Ukrainian forces attack Snake island to destroy Russian equipment

Estimated read time 4 min read


A dramatic new video shows the Ukrainians attacking Snake island to destroy Russian equipment left on the strategic outpost.

Russian troops hastily abandoned Snake Island on Thursday, just days after Ukraine’s armed forces launched a crippling rocket attack on the outpost, in what they claimed was a ‘good will gesture’.

Putin’s remaining troops on the island fled in the middle of the night in two speedboats with the rocky outcrop left ‘covered in fire’ following a fresh volley of rocket attacks on remaining Russian positions, Ukraine’s military said.

The Russians made unsuccessful attempts to destroy their remaining equipment abandoned on the island, to keep it from falling into Ukrainian hands and being turned against its creators. 

But in the end, the Ukrainian military had to do it for them. 

The slick video, produced by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, opens with smooth close-ups of a Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone, which have been so effective in the war so far.

High-resolution footage of Snake Island on the Black Sea horizon precedes military drone footage of a Russian supply truck sitting on a jetty.

A white blob glides into the shot and obliterates the truck in a white flash, leaving the jetty ablaze. 

A Russian supply truck sitting abandoned on a jetty on Snake Island explodes when it is hit by a Turkish drone

A Russian supply truck sitting abandoned on a jetty on Snake Island explodes when it is hit by a Turkish drone

A Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone, which have been so effective in the war so far, was responsible for firing the missile

A Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drone, which have been so effective in the war so far, was responsible for firing the missile

The Russians made unsuccessful attempts to destroy their remaining equipment abandoned on the island, to keep it from falling into Ukrainian hands and being turned against its creators

The Russians made unsuccessful attempts to destroy their remaining equipment abandoned on the island, to keep it from falling into Ukrainian hands and being turned against its creators

Russian troops hastily abandoned Snake Island on Thursday, just days after Ukraine's armed forces launched a crippling rocket attack on the outpost, leaving behind equipment

Russian troops hastily abandoned Snake Island on Thursday, just days after Ukraine’s armed forces launched a crippling rocket attack on the outpost, leaving behind equipment

A white blob glides into the shot and obliterates the truck in a white flash, leaving the jetty ablaze

A white blob glides into the shot and obliterates the truck in a white flash, leaving the jetty ablaze

The 100-acre hunk of land is a favourable strategic position, sitting some 80 miles off Ukraine's southern coastline in the Black Sea. Russia seized the island early in the war and had largely managed to maintain control of it despite intermittent attacks from Ukraine's armed forces

The 100-acre hunk of land is a favourable strategic position, sitting some 80 miles off Ukraine’s southern coastline in the Black Sea. Russia seized the island early in the war and had largely managed to maintain control of it despite intermittent attacks from Ukraine’s armed forces 

The Bayraktar drone attack followed Ukrainian claims that Russia had dropped prohibited phosphorus bombs on the island after abandoning it this week.

General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, 48, said: ‘The Russians tried to destroy their equipment, weapons and belongings on Snake Island. But as usual, they failed with this task.

‘We helped the occupants to forever evacuate the remains of their garrison from our island.

‘There is no trace left of the so-called ”Russian Soul”. Everything is going to be Ukraine.’

The term ‘Russian soul’ has been used in literature in reference to the uniqueness of the Russian national identity. The term is also sometimes denoted as ‘great Russian soul’, ‘mysterious Russian soul’, or ‘Russian spirit’. 

The Ukrainian general claimed that after abandoning the Black Sea island, the Russians had dropped prohibited phosphorus bombs on the outpost.

Head of Zelensky's office Andriy Yermak this morning shared a photo of smoke rising from the island following yet another attack last night

Head of Zelensky’s office Andriy Yermak this morning shared a photo of smoke rising from the island following yet another attack last night 

Russia has announced it is leaving Snake Island just days after Ukraine launched a major rocket attack on the outpost (pictured here before the war)

Zaluzhnyi said: ‘The leadership of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation does not even adhere to its own statements, which declare a ‘gesture of goodwill’ [in retreating from Snake Island].

Two Russian Su-30 aircraft twice launched air strikes using incendiary phosphorus bombs on Snake island, he said.

At the time the island is believed to have been uninhabited.

The 100-acre parcel of land 80 miles off Ukraine’s southern coast was seized by Kremlin forces in the early days of the war but has been pounded by Ukrainian forces in recent weeks in a major offensive involving long-range weapons. 

Russia’s defence ministry immediately tried to paint the retreat as a ‘gesture of goodwill’ designed to help the flow of grain exports as it confirmed the withdrawal of its troops. 

But the retreat represents a humiliating strategic blow for Putin in a war that has seen him lose tens of thousands of soldiers and vast amounts of military equipment. 

The island is of high strategic importance despite its minuscule size because its location makes it possible for the owner to control maritime activity south of Ukraine, particularly around the major port city of Odesa. 

The strategic island has been in dispute since early in the four-month war when Ukrainian defenders famously told an approaching Russian warship to ‘go f*** yourself’.

The Russian cruiser – the Moskva – was later sunk in a Ukrainian missile strike, perhaps Vladimir Putin’s biggest single humiliation of the war.



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