On June 30, local time, the Russian Satellite News Agency reported that the Russian Ministry of Defense issued a statement stating that Russia threatened to show goodwill to Ukraine and that all Russian armed forces stationed on Snake Island would withdraw and withdraw. The order has been sent to the relevant Russian troops, and they are carrying out the withdrawal task in an orderly manner. Subsequently, both the Ukrainian Southern Military District Command and the Director of the Presidential Office Yermak confirmed that all Russian troops have been evacuated from Snake Island. As for whether the Ukrainian army will take this opportunity to retake Snake Island, there is currently no news on this topic. But no matter what, the Russian army's abandonment of Snake Island will bring some changes to the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.
Regarding the importance of Snake Island, we have previously introduced that if the Russian army deploys tactical missiles on the island, it can effectively block Ukraine's only remaining seaport Odessa . In the third phase of military operations, if the Russian army wants to launch a landing operation in Odessa, Snake Island can also become a logistics base for the Russian army to land. However, now the Russian army has abandoned this strategic location. This is of course to "release goodwill" to Ukraine. After all, many media and politicians in Western countries have recently accused Russia of "obstructing Ukraine's food exports." But now the Russian army simply All evacuated from Snake Island, keeping the Odessa Port away from the Russian missile and artillery strike range. In the future, even if the West wants to slander Russia for "blocking Ukraine's maritime grain transportation channels," there will be no room for it to do so. Recently, Russian presidential spokesman Peskov once again persuaded Ukraine to surrender, saying that as long as Ukraine is willing to surrender, Russia can end its military operations today. After the Russian army successively captured many important towns in Donbas, the Russian army returned a strategic location to Ukraine, which is similar to the "carrot and stick" policy of the United States in its diplomacy.
Of course, the underlying reason for Russia to abandon this strategic location is military. First of all, Russia's main purpose of quickly occupying Snake Island at the beginning of the conflict was to use it as a forward base for landing in Odessa. However, as the war situation changes, it is no longer possible for the Russian army to launch a landing operation on Odessa in the short term, which makes the strategic role of Snake Island continue to decline. Secondly, if the Ukrainian army wanted to attack Snake Island before, it had to send marines to launch a landing battle on it by helicopter and landing craft . However, in the face of the strong defensive firepower of the Russian army, the Ukrainian army's attack on Snake Island was tantamount to suicide. However, the M142 "Haimas" rocket launchers provided by the United States to Ukraine have now arrived. This long-range rocket launcher can completely cover Snake Island, and other artillery with a range that can cover Snake Island has also been transferred here by the Ukrainian army. We know that the terrain of Snake Island is flat. Once it encounters intensive shelling, the soldiers and equipment on the island have almost nowhere to hide and can only be passively beaten. From a military point of view, it is a very wise choice for the Russian army to abandon an island that is difficult to function in the short term and is covered by enemy artillery.
As for the situation of the Ukrainian army retaking Snake Island, the Russian army does not need to worry too much about this. The Ukrainian government had previously promoted the story of the so-called "Thirteen Warriors of Snake Island". Even though it was later confirmed that these thirteen soldiers surrendered to the Russian army rather than died in battle, the Ukrainian government was still keen to use this story to boost the morale of the army. In early May, the Ukrainian army launched several rounds of counterattacks on Shedao, but in the end they lost troops and generals and lost face. Now that the Russian army has voluntarily withdrawn from Snake Island, Ukraine will re-send troops to recapture it no matter what, and then publicize it as an important "result". However, from a military perspective, the significance of the Ukrainian army taking back Snake Island is negligible. Because almost all the heavy ships of the Ukrainian army have been sunk and they do not have the ability to transport heavy military equipment across the 40-kilometer sea to Snake Island, they may end up sending only a few light infantry in helicopters or rubber boats to come. Raising the Ukrainian flag on Snake Island to declare sovereignty is nothing more than that and will not have any effect on the war situation.
The focus of the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine should still be on the Donbass region. At present, the Russian army has completely occupied the Lisichansk oil refinery and continues to attack westward, squeezing the Ukrainian army's position.At the same time, the Russian army also invaded Privelia, a town located north of Lisichansk. Once it is controlled, the Russian army will further tighten the encirclement of the Ukrainian garrison in Lisichansk. In addition, the Russian army also launched a large-scale artillery bombardment on Bakhmut, blowing up many roads. This may be the target of the Russian army in the next phase of operations. Slavyansk -Bakhmut line is Ukraine. Once this line of defense is also penetrated by the Russian army, Russia will be only a short distance away from the goal of the second phase of the special military operation - "liberating Donbas". The Ukrainian army may collapse like an avalanche. All in all, Snake Island is just an episode in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Now all energy should be devoted to the decisive battle in Donbas.
