On Thursday, June 30, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as a step of goodwill, withdrew the garrison from Zmeiny Island, said the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov.

“Thus, it has been demonstrated to the world community that the Russian Federation does not interfere with the efforts of the UN to organize a humanitarian corridor for the export of agricultural products from the territory of Ukraine.

This decision will not allow Kyiv to speculate on the topic of the impending food crisis, referring to the impossibility of exporting grain due to Russia's total control of the northwestern part of the Black Sea, ”Konashenkov said.

He stressed that now it is up to the Ukrainian side, which has not yet cleared the Black Sea coast near its shores, including port waters.

The decision of the Russian military command to withdraw troops from Snake Island deprives the West and Kyiv of any arguments to promote the myth that the Russian Federation is allegedly provoking a food crisis, Nikita Danyuk, deputy director of the RUDN Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts, told RT.

“I think this is the right strategic decision, which allows, on the one hand, to maintain remote control over Zmeiny Island, and on the other hand, to avoid casualties and losses among military equipment,” he said.

In turn, the captain of the 1st rank of the reserve, military expert Vasily Dandykin, believes that in Kyiv the gesture of goodwill from Moscow will be perceived as their own "overcome" against the backdrop of military failures on all fronts.

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine cannot do anything either on the Donetsk front or on the Kharkov direction - everything is bursting at the seams.

If the Kyiv regime tries to use this island for military purposes, then there is no problem in destroying the military means of Ukraine, ”he emphasized in an interview with RT.

Summary of the course of the special operation

The official representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said that in the Dnepropetrovsk region, a command post of the operational-strategic group "Khortitsa" was destroyed by sea-based high-precision long-range weapons.

Also, during the strikes of the Russian Aerospace Forces on the command post of the 123rd territorial defense brigade, the location of foreign mercenaries in Nikolaev, the ammunition depot of the 79th airborne assault brigade in the Nikolaev region over the past day, more than 20 Ukrainian servicemen and more than 80 foreign fighters were killed, six units of armored and automotive vehicles, over 1,000 artillery shells, 300 mortar rounds and 100 rounds for MANPADS.  

“As a result of the fire damage to the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the areas of the settlements of Berestovoe and Avdiivka of the Donetsk People's Republic, irretrievable losses in the units of the 14th mechanized and 56th motorized infantry brigades amounted to more than 50%.

These units were withdrawn to the rear to restore combat capability.

Due to high losses and unsatisfactory supply of the 34th battalion of the 57th motorized infantry brigade, 13 military personnel, including officers, left their positions without permission in a day, ”he added.

In addition, two platoons of Uragan and Grad multiple launch rocket systems and two Giacint-B artillery platoons were hit as part of the counter-battery fight.

Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces shot down two Su-25 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force in the air, and also eliminated the Buk-M1 self-propelled firing system and the S-300 air defense radar.

The Russian air defense systems, in turn, destroyed the Su-27 of the Ukrainian Air Force, nine drones and intercepted five multiple rocket launchers.

Lisichansk

Lisichansk will be liberated from Ukrainian nationalists in the coming days, said the Ambassador of the Lugansk People's Republic, Rodion Miroshnik, on the air of Solovyov LIVE.

“Until full release, I hope we have to count the days,” the diplomat said.

According to him, after Lisichansk and its suburbs come under the control of the allied forces, it will be possible to talk about the liberation of the LPR.

The ambassador said that there were practically no Ukrainian military command left in the city: “That is, there are fighters of the defense, there are some representatives of the “pieces” of national battalions of various colors and there were once representatives of the Main Intelligence Directorate, but I’m not sure that they remained there to date".

Earlier, Miroshnik said that the allied forces had seized the territory of the Lisichansk oil refinery and completely blocked the Lisichansk-Artemovsk highway.

At the same time, Lieutenant Colonel of the People's Militia of the LPR Andrei Marochko said that the Kyiv regime had ordered the Ukrainian group of troops in Lisichansk and its environs to retreat.

At the same time, the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are abandoning military equipment due to a lack of fuel and lubricants.