The Ukrainian army said that it had launched a strike against Russian forces stationed on the strategic "Snake Island" on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, and transferred weapons and missile systems to it, explaining that it inflicted losses on the Russians.
For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed - today, Wednesday - that Ukrainian forces carried out a "failed attempt" to seize the island.
What is the story of Snake Island, and where exactly is it located, why was it called by that name, and what is its strategic importance in the war, and when did the Russian forces take control of it?
Snake Island
It is called "Serpent Island", "Snake Island" or "White Island", because it is home to white snakes.
Snake Island is located in the Black Sea near the eastern coasts of Ukraine and Romania.
The island covers an area of 0.17 square kilometers, is 662 meters long and 440 meters wide, and its highest point is about 41 meters high.
The island is an igneous rock formation located 35 km from the coast, east of the mouth of the Danube River.
The island was one of the last endangered Mediterranean monk seal habitats until the 1950s.
About 100 people live on the island, mostly border guards with their families and technical staff.
Island history
During the period of the Ottoman Empire, the Greeks renamed it "Fidonisi", after a naval battle between the Ottoman and Russian fleets in 1788, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1792.
1829: After the Russo-Turkish War (1828-1829), the island became part of the Russian Empire until 1856.
1877: After the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), the Ottoman Empire gave the island and the northern Dobruja region (Kingdom of Romania) to Romania, in compensation for the Russian annexation of the Romanian region of southern Bessarabia.
As part of the Romanian alliance with Russia, the Russians operated a radio station on the island, but it was destroyed on 25 June 1917 when it was bombed by the Turkish ship "Medili" built as SMS Breslau for the German Navy.
The lighthouse built by Marius Michel Pasha in 1860 was also damaged.
1920: The Treaty of Versailles reaffirmed the island as part of Romania, and the lighthouse was rebuilt in 1922.
1947: The Paris Peace Treaties between World War II heroes stipulated that Romania ceded Northern Bukovina, Herza, Bodiak and Bessarabia to the Soviet Union, but did not mention the mouths of the Danube River and Serpent Island.
Until 1948, Serpent Island was part of Romania.
February 4, 1948: During the demarcation of the border, Romania and the Soviet Union signed a protocol to leave under Soviet administration Snake Island, and several small islands on the Danube River south of the Romanian-Russian border agreed in 1917.
Romania opposed this protocol, as it has not been ratified by either country, yet it has not made any formal claim on the territories.
1948: During the Cold War, a Soviet radar center was built on the island for naval and anti-aircraft purposes.
The ownership of Serpent Island by the Soviet Union was confirmed in the Treaty between the Government of the People's Republic of Romania and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Border Regime between the Romanian and Soviet State, signed in Bucharest on February 27, 1961.
1967-87: The Soviet Union and the Romanian side negotiated the delimitation of the continental shelf.
1987: The Romanian side refused to accept a Russian offer on the island.
1991: After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited control of the island.
1997: Romania and Ukraine sign a treaty "in which both states reaffirm that the frontiers existing between them are inviolable and, therefore, they shall refrain now and in the future from any attempt against the frontier, as well as from any demand or action, confiscation and usurpation of part or all of the territory of the Contracting Party".
The two sides agreed that if a decision on the maritime boundary was not reached within two years, either side could turn to the International Court of Justice for a final ruling.
2002: In addition to a helicopter platform, a berth was built for ships with a draft of up to 8 meters in height, and Kyiv began building a port.
July 4, 2003: President of Romania Ion Iliescu and President of Russia Vladimir Putin sign a treaty of friendship and cooperation.
Romania promised not to dispute the territories of Ukraine or Moldova, which it lost to the Soviet Union after World War II, but has asked Russia, as the successor to the Soviet Union, to somehow acknowledge its responsibility for what happened.
The National Odessa I Mechnikov University and the Ostriv Zmini Marine Research Foundation have established an initiative in which scientists and students from the university conduct research on the island each year, on the fauna, flora, local geology, meteorology, atmospheric chemistry and hydrobiology.
In accordance with the 1997 treaty between Romania and Ukraine, the Ukrainian authorities withdrew an army radio division, demolished military radar, and moved all other infrastructure to civilians.
The island is equipped with navigational equipment, and has a 150-year-old lighthouse.
The island lacks a source of fresh water, and the Border Patrol unit is regularly supplied with it by air.
September 16, 2004: The Romanian side brought a case against Ukraine to the International Court of Justice in a dispute regarding the maritime boundary between the two countries in the Black Sea.
February 2007: The Verkhovna Rada approved the creation of a rural settlement part of the town of Vylakov, located some distance at the mouth of the Danube River.
2008: 12 Ukrainian border guards were killed when the helicopter carrying them from Odessa to Snake Island crashed, killing all but one on board.
February 3, 2009: The International Court of Justice ruled that Ukraine was entitled to the island.
The importance of the island is due to the fact that it contains, along with its territorial waters, large quantities of natural gas and oil, but its development has been suspended due to funding.
lighthouse island
1842: The Serpent Island Lighthouse was built by the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Empire.
The lighthouse is an octagonal building with a height of 12 meters and is located near the highest elevated area on the island at an altitude of 40 meters above sea level.
The lighthouse built on the site of the formerly destroyed Temple of Achilles is adjacent to an apartment building, where the remains of the Greek temple were found in 1823.
1860: With the advancement of beacon technology, new lamps were purchased from England, one of which was installed in 1862.
In the early 1890s, a new kerosene lamp was installed, with lamp swivel gear and flat lenses that improved the lighthouse's visibility up to 20 miles (32 km).
1914-1918: The lighthouse was destroyed or damaged (it is not clear which) in World War I, and was later rebuilt.
1939-1945: The lighthouse was severely damaged during World War II by Soviet aviation and retreating German forces.
1944: restored by the Odessa Military Radio Detachment.
1949: Rebuilt and equipped by the Black Sea Fleet.
1975 and 1984: The beacon was upgraded, and in 1988 a new radio beacon (KPM-300) was installed with a signal range of 150 miles per second (240 km per second).
August 2004: The beacon is equipped with a radio beacon (Yantar-2M-200), which provides a differential correction signal for GPS and GLONASS.
The cruiser "Moskva" sank
February 14, 2022: The Russian Ministry of Defense said that the cruiser "Moskva" (the main ship of the Russian Black Sea fleet) sank during the process of being towed, affected by a storm and bad weather conditions.
Ukrainian forces announced targeting the main destroyer of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea with two anti-ship missiles.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Southern Military District said that the Russian cruiser began to sink after being targeted by Ukrainian "Neptune" missiles.
Kyiv described the sinking of the Russian destroyer as the largest loss of the Russian fleet since World War II.
February 15, 2022: Ukrainian Ambassador to Washington Oskana Markarova said that the cruiser Moskva is one of Russia's main ships in the Black Sea, stressing that the same ship attacked Serpent Island in the Black Sea.
Battle of Snake Island
February 24, 2022: A battle on Serpent Island took place in the early hours of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian border guards announced that the Serpent Island, located in the Ukrainian territorial waters in the Black Sea, was attacked by Russian
ships
, during the first day of the Russian war on Ukraine.
According to the audio recording published by the newspaper "Ukrayinska Pravda", the Ukrainian soldiers stationed on the island refused to surrender.
Later in the evening of February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service reported that contact with the island had been lost.
Kyiv announced that the Russian forces had captured the island after a naval and air bombardment that destroyed all the infrastructure on the island, and that the thirteen Ukrainian border guards on the island - who represent the entire Ukrainian military presence there - were killed during the battle after refusing to surrender.
A Ukrainian soldier broadcast live the moment the Russian warship opened fire.
February 25, 2022: The Russian government reports that a squadron of 16 boats from the Ukrainian Navy attacked Russian ships off the island, and also said it sank 6 Ukrainian boats.
The Russian government accused the United States of providing intelligence support to the Ukrainian squadron during the operation, which the United States denied.
On the same day, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that he would award each of the thirteen guards the title "Hero of Ukraine", Ukraine's highest military title.
February 26, 2022: Ukrainian authorities announced that the Russian Navy had captured a search and rescue ship off the island.
Initially, Ukrainian government sources stated that 13 border guards, representing the entire Ukrainian military presence on the island, were killed after refusing to surrender, but the Ukrainian Border Guard Service later announced that the 13 border guards may be alive and being held as POWs, based on reports Russian reports that they were being held in Sevastopol.
Russian media provided an alternative version of events, claiming that 82 Ukrainian soldiers were captured after surrendering voluntarily.
According to Russian Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov, the prisoners have signed pledges not to continue military action against Russia, and they will be released soon.
February 28, 2022: The Ukrainian Navy confirmed on its official Facebook page that all border guards on the island are alive, and that they are being held by the Russian Navy.