(Kyiv) The Ukrainian army said on Thursday that it had regained control of Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea, after having handed over its flag there a few days earlier, following the withdrawal of Russian forces from this small symbolic territory.
Posted at 9:31 a.m.
“We have effectively reestablished our control over Serpents’ Island”, declared a high official of the general staff of the Ukrainian army, Oleksiï Gromov, quoted by the news agency Interfax-Ukraine, specifying that he it was a “physical control” of the soldiers.
According to him, the Ukrainian soldiers who took part in the operation, however, returned to their barracks. He did not specify whether soldiers remained on the island.
“Last week, we established armed control of the island and prevented the enemy from taking away the rest of its units, weapons and military equipment,” he continued.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it carried out a strike Thursday morning on Serpents’ Island with “high-precision missiles”, killing some of the Ukrainian soldiers who went to plant a flag there and causing the survivors to flee. .
Kyiv had however announced on Monday that the Ukrainian flag was floating again on this small piece of land located in the northwest of the Black Sea.
This island became emblematic from the first day of the Russian invasion when a member of the small Ukrainian garrison defending it ordered the Russian ship which demanded its surrender to “go fuck itself”.
Passed under Russian control, it was taken over by the Ukrainians last week, following intense bombardments.
Moscow claimed to withdraw from this territory “as a sign of goodwill”, after having “achieved” the “set objectives”.