Today, Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it has withdrawn its forces from the strategic Snake Island in the Black Sea, which was confirmed by the Ukrainian army.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that it withdrew its forces from Snake Island to prove that it does not impede the exit of grain ships from the ports of Ukraine, while the Ukrainian General Staff confirmed that the Russians had evacuated the remnants of their protections from the island and left it.

In the past days, the Ukrainian army said that it had dealt a blow to Russian forces stationed on the strategic "Snake Island", and had transferred weapons and missile systems there, explaining that it had inflicted losses on the Russians.

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry denied this and confirmed that Ukrainian forces had carried out a "failed attempt" to seize the island.

In a related context, today, Thursday, the first ship loaded with 7,000 tons of grain, under the protection of the Russian Navy, left the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk, which was controlled by Russia, according to the new authorities appointed by Moscow.

"After a few months' hiatus, the first merchant ship left the Berdyansk commercial port carrying 7,000 tons of grain to friendly countries," the head of the pro-Russian region administration Yevgeny Palitsky said on Telegram.

Biggest Threat

The new developments come one day after the summit of the leaders of NATO countries in Madrid, which classified Russia as the biggest threat to the alliance and the safety and stability of its countries.


At its summit, NATO decided to strengthen its military presence at the gates of Russia, and announced at the conclusion of its summit in Madrid the launch of the expansion mechanism to include Sweden and Finland, which Moscow considered a hostile and destabilizing step.

The NATO summit in the Spanish capital (Madrid) focused on Russia more than any other file, and the final statement condemned the continuation of what it described as the Russian aggression against Ukraine, blaming Moscow for what it called the humanitarian catastrophe and the global food and energy crises.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance leaders agreed on the new strategic vision of NATO and considered Russia the biggest threat to the alliance.

Speaking at a press conference after the alliance summit, Stoltenberg said that NATO partners had approved an aid package for Ukraine that includes the provision of military equipment and air defense systems.

For his part, US President Joe Biden announced that US forces will reposition themselves in the eastern flank of NATO, and enhance their deployment by land, sea and air to strengthen the alliance's collective defenses.

He also stressed during a meeting with the Secretary-General of NATO in Madrid that the accession of Sweden and Finland to the alliance would make it more powerful.

Increased support for Ukraine

The US president said - in a tweet on Twitter - that while the Russian president is destroying peace in Europe and attacking the core of the principled order, the United States and its allies are increasing the pace of their assistance to Ukraine while strengthening their defenses.

Biden saw this as evidence that the need for NATO is greater than ever.

In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Belgian Defense Minister Lidovin de Donder said that the strengthening of NATO and its military presence in the east is a result of Russian actions in the region, and that what the alliance is doing is to ensure its security and the safety of citizens in its countries.


The Belgian minister confirmed that her country and other allies would continue to provide military support to Ukraine in the face of Russia.

Also in an interview with Al Jazeera, Icelandic Foreign Minister Thordis Kolbrunn said that sanctions are a tool used by NATO against Russia because it decided to invade Ukraine.

Colbrunn added that there would be serious consequences if Ukraine could not win this war.

Putin vows to respond

After Finland and Sweden were placed on the membership list, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that his country would have to respond if NATO deployed its forces in the two countries, in Sweden and Finland.

At a press conference on the sidelines of the Caspian Summit held in Turkmenistan, Putin stressed that Sweden and Finland's accession to NATO is completely different from the issue of Ukraine in his country.

Putin vowed to respond to NATO's deployment of any forces or weapons on Russia's borders (Reuters)

In the context of talking about the food crisis, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Secretary-General of the United Nations Moscow's readiness to coordinate efforts to reduce the risks of a global food crisis.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov stressed in telephone conversations with the Secretary-General of the United Nations that Moscow is committed to fulfilling the shipments of grain and fertilizer it exports.

confrontations

On the ground, the local authorities of the Mykolaiv district reported that 4 people were killed and 6 wounded in a Russian bombing of an apartment building in the district.

Al-Jazeera correspondent said that yesterday morning explosions rocked separate areas of Mykolaiv, and columns of smoke were seen rising heavily from inside the city's port, as a result of the Russian bombing.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced the destruction of 4 Ukrainian command centers in Kharkiv, and what it called a base for training foreign mercenaries in Mykolaiv.

Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that Russian forces shot down a Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft, a helicopter in the Mykolaiv province, and two Su-25 aircraft in the Kharkiv province.


In eastern Ukraine, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported that battles erupted in the vicinity of the city of Lyschansk, especially in the southern and southwestern axes of the city, near the oil refinery.

The governor of Lugansk stated that the Russian forces stormed the oil refinery, and that the battles with the Ukrainian forces were continuing.

British intelligence reported that the current ground battle is likely to center around the Lyschansk oil refinery.

In a statement, the Ukrainian General Staff said that the Russian forces are trying to control the road linking them with the city of Bakhmut in the south, and confirmed that they had repelled a Russian attack at the town of Sberny on the administrative borders of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions.

For his part, the governor of Lugansk confirmed that the Russian forces were still unable to penetrate the Ukrainian defenses, and did not control the road linking Lyschansk and Bakhmut.