What does recapture mean? / Why Snake Island is so strategically important
Ukraine celebrates a military victory, Russia speaks of a “gesture of goodwill” – the representations of Snake Island differ widely. But the fact is: the strategically important island is now back under Ukrainian control.
This caused great joy among Ukrainian officials. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the Russian withdrawal would change the situation in the Black Sea significantly. This significantly restricts the Russian military’s freedom of action, even if this does not guarantee security. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also said he saw the recapture as a sign: “Ultimately, it will prove impossible for Putin to subjugate a country that does not accept his rule.”
Snake Island / “Russian warship, fuck you”
The island has been in focus since the first day of the war. The Russian army had sent a ship there, and the Ukrainian soldiers stationed there reacted furiously: the radio message “Russian warship, fuck you” went around the world as a symbol of the Ukrainians’ fighting spirit. On the same day Ukraine had to give up the island.
In this war, however, Snake Island not only has a strong symbolic meaning, but is also a strategically important goal for both warring parties for several reasons. Russia could have more effectively attacked the port city of Odessa from the island. Ukraine no longer has to fear a landing of Russian troops from the sea for Odessa. Airstrikes, on the other hand, remain possible. In addition, whoever occupies Snake Island has better control over the shipping routes on the west side of the bay.
Ukrainian army chief: Russia ‘could not withstand the fire’
This is one of the reasons why the Russian Defense Ministry described the withdrawal as a goodwill gesture intended to show that Russia does not hinder the export of grain and agricultural goods from Ukraine. Before the war, Ukrainian grain exports were mainly by sea, especially through the major port of Odessa. It is unclear whether wheat transports will actually be possible.
The Ukrainian account goes in exactly the opposite direction. There is no talk of a voluntary Russian withdrawal. The Russian soldiers left Snake Island “because they could not withstand the fire of our artillery, rockets and air raids,” said Ukrainian army chief Valeriy Zalushny. Since Russian troops conquered the island, the Ukrainian military had repeatedly flown attacks on the island. Read more about this here. Even shortly before the Russian leadership announced the withdrawal, Ukraine had reported an attack.
Previously undeveloped oil and gas resources
Snake Island has another advantage. According to a 2009 ruling by the UN Court of Justice, the island ensures Ukraine’s control over previously untapped oil and gas resources. With the conquest of Crimea in 2014, Moscow again contested the holdings of Kyiv. The loss of Snake Island at the beginning of the war was therefore considered particularly difficult for Ukraine.
The barren rock, which lies 35 kilometers offshore just off the Danube Delta in the Odessa region, defines the course of the border between the sea areas of Romania and Ukraine. Snake Island belonged to Romania until 1948. It was only in 2003 that Ukrainian sovereignty over the island was made binding in a treaty.
