Shortly after the war between Russia and Ukraine began, the Russian army quickly occupied Snake Island located off the coast of Odessa, an important port city in southern Ukraine. Although Snake Island is only a small island with a land area of only 0.17 square kilometers, its strategic position is very important.
itself Russian Navy The Black Navy firmly controls the sea control of the Black Sea. This time after the Russian army occupied this strategic location, all Ukrainian ships exporting grain were directly blocked, so we can see that later Within a few months, Ukraine continued to send naval and air forces to launch assaults here, but failed every time. Not long ago, Ukraine once again organized naval and air forces to try to seize Snake Island. As a result, the Russian army discovered the firepower point and suffered heavy losses.
However, just a few days ago, the Russian army suddenly announced that it had abandoned this area. According to the latest reports from Russian media, on June 30, local time, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the withdrawal of troops from Snake Island. According to Russian officials themselves, they retreated from here to release goodwill. But is this really the case? The answer is obviously no.
It is absolutely impossible for Russia to withdraw from Snake Island out of good intentions. This is just like the Russian army's withdrawal from the periphery of the Ukrainian capital Kiev in March this year. The Russian army should be unable and unnecessary to continue to hold on here, otherwise the Russian army can use it as a springboard to attack Odessa.
The Russian army’s choice not to stick to Snake Island is related to the current battlefield situation. At present, almost all of Russia's elite main forces are deployed in the Donbass region, and they are attacking Lisichansk, the last large-scale city in Luhansk Oblast that is still controlled by Ukraine. However, completely different from the difficulties of the Ukrainian army on the land battlefield, Ukraine's attacks near Snake Island are very active, and Russia itself has been unable to defend Snake Island after the sinking of the flagship guided missile cruiser Moskva of the Black Sea Fleet. The island provides powerful air defense support.
In particular, the Ukrainian army has recently obtained a large number of weapons and equipment from the West, including TB2 drones provided by Turkey , Kaiser wheeled self-propelled howitzers provided by France, PZH2000 self-propelled howitzers provided by Germany, and the United States Offered M777 light artillery and more. In addition, the Americans also provided Harpoon anti-ship missiles to Ukraine not long ago. Therefore, the Ukrainian army with sufficient firepower continued to attack Snake Island. Now, long-range heavy weapons such as Seamus rocket launcher have not been deployed to this island. area, there is absolutely no need for the Russian army to leave its few troops in this tiny place to be bombed, so it is better to retreat early.
On the surface, the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Snake Island area is a double political and military victory for Ukraine, but Ukraine has no possibility of changing the situation of the war with this victory. After Severodonetsk was completely captured by the Russian army, Russia has formed a three-sided encirclement of Lisichansk.
The Russian troops that are now protruding from Bospana and not attacking have begun to outflank the Ukrainian defenders of Lischichansk. In particular, they have captured the oil refinery in Lischichansk. If the tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops stationed there do not evacuate in time, , I'm afraid the only chance is to be annihilated. This is another major loss of Ukrainian forces after the Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol were completely wiped out.
However, Russia's move also sent a clear signal, that is, they will not be able to choose to attack Odessa in the short term. At present, Russia is on the defensive as a whole in the Black Sea coastal areas and areas such as Kharkiv , and Ukraine is sending some small troops to continuously encroach on Kherson and other areas.But for Russia, as long as they successfully capture the Donbass region and annihilate the main force of the Ukrainian army there, it will mean a great strategic victory for them. The loss of Snake Island, a small place of 0.17 square kilometers, will be a big blow to them. There is hardly any big impact.
