Battle for Ukraine's Snake Island 'key to Black Sea dominance'

Russian resupply vessels have minimum protection after navy retreated to Crimea, following the loss of the 'Moskva', British intelligence reports show

Satellite view shows smoke rising over Snake Island in the Black Sea on Sunday. Planet Labs PBC/Handout via REUTERS

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Ukrainian forces are engaged in a fierce battle to regain control of Snake Island amid fears Russia could dominate the north-western Black Sea if it consolidates its position in the strategic location, the British military has said.

Moscow has sought to reinforce its exposed troops on the island, also known as Zmiinyi Island, 11 weeks since the invasion started, but Kyiv’s assaults on Russian troops stationed there had disrupted the invading forces from expanding their influence, UK intelligence officials said.

In an update on Twitter, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said Russia’s efforts to bolster its forces on the tiny island “offer Ukraine more opportunities to engage Russian troops” and equipment.

“If Russia consolidates its position on Zmiinyi Island with strategic air defence and coastal defence cruise missiles, they could dominate the north-western Black Sea.”

The ministry also said Ukrainian troops had “successfully struck Russian air defences and resupply vessels with Bayraktar drones”.

The Turkish-made drones have become legendary in Ukraine’s defence and are the subject of a catchy folk song, which claims the unmanned vehicles “make ghosts out of Russian bandits”.

The British army said Russia's resupply vessels had minimum protection after the Russian navy retreated to Crimea, following the loss of the Moskva.

This assessment was backed up by satellite imagery analysed by the Associated Press showing fighting in the region.

Ukraine is battling to regain control of Snake Island from Russia.

Russia’s poor performance in the war is probably down to President Vladimir Putin’s flawed decision-making, an expert in Russian and Central Asian defence and security issues said.

In an article published by British think tank RUSI, Roger McDermott argued Mr Putin’s misjudgements in the 11 weeks of war stemmed from “badly crafted intelligence ― especially from the FSB [Federal Security Service] ― but also from his largely successful previous experience of using military force.”

“This predisposed him to underestimate the military of a country lacking ― in his view — legitimate statehood or nationhood, and was further compounded by his failure to recognise that the war in Ukraine would be fought on a scale way beyond his experience ― or that of his senior generals,” Mr McDermott wrote.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Kyiv’s military had made small gains, pushing Russian forces out of four villages near Kharkiv.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba voiced what appeared to be increasing confidence — and expanded goals, suggesting Ukraine could go beyond only forcing Russia back to areas it held before the invasion began on February 24.

Mr Kuleba told the Financial Times that Ukraine initially believed victory would be the withdrawal of Russian troops to positions they occupied before the invasion began. But the focus shifted to the eastern industrial heartland of the Donbas after Russian forces failed to take Kyiv early in the war.

“Now if we are strong enough on the military front, and we win the battle for Donbas, which will be crucial for the following dynamics of the war, of course the victory for us in this war will be the liberation of the rest of our territories,” Mr Kuleba said.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s natural gas pipeline operator was expected to stop Russian shipments through a key hub in the east of the country on Wednesday.

An injured Ukrainian service member sits at a field hospital inside Azovstal steel works in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a meeting in Kyiv with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra. Reuters

Ukrainian servicemen study a Swedish shoulder-launched weapon system during a training session near Kharkiv. AP Photo

Russian emergency personnel clear debris inside Mariupol's drama theatre. AFP

Ukrainian servicemen study a map near Kharkiv. EPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an online meeting with the Saratov region's acting governor, Roman Busargin, in Moscow. AP

Belgian soldiers take part in a Nato military exercise near Munster, Germany. Getty

Ukraine's prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova, left, speaks with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, right, during her visit to mass graves in Bucha, Ukraine. EPA

A guard of honour stands at attention during the funerals of Sgt Olexandr Moisenko and Sergiy Turpetko in Lviv, Ukraine. Getty

Plumes of smoke rise above the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol amid Russian shelling. AFP

US President Joe Biden signs into law a measure making it easier for Washington to send weapons and supplies to the government in Kyiv. Bloomberg

A Ukrainian soldier fires with a mortar, in the Kharkiv region. Reuters

The Eiffel Tower is lit up in blue and yellow, the national colours of Ukraine, to express solidarity with its people at the request of the French Presidency of the EU, in Paris. Reuters

A Ukrainian Army tank drives over an infantryman during a training exercise near Kryvyi Rih. Getty Images

A Ukrainian soldier rests in his room at a front-line field hospital near Popasna, Luhansk region. EPA

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Memorial to Hero Cities at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier after the Victory Day military parade in Moscow. EPA

Ukrainian refugees from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol are seen in a bus as they arrive at a humanitarian aid centre for internally displaced people, in Zaporizhzhia. Reuters

A hotel complex destroyed by a Russian missile is pictured in Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters

Maksym, 3, is photographed with his brother, Dmytro, 16, on top of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

A video of a press conference from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol by Azov regiment servicemen Illia Samoilenko, right, and Sviatoslav Palamar, seen on a computer screen in Kyiv. EPA

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy take part in a online meeting of G7 leaders in Kyiv. Reuters

US first lady Jill Biden greets Olena Zelenska, wife of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, outside a public school in Uzhhorod, Ukraine. Reuters

Irish singer and activist Bono, the lead vocalist of rock band U2, performs at a subway station that has been turned into a bomb shelter in Kyiv. AFP

A boy looks out of a bus window as people evacuated from Mariupol arrive in Zaporizhzhia. AFP

A night-vision image shows fire on Ukraine's Zmiinyi Island. Reuters

Women sing the Ukrainian national anthem below the Euro Monument during a demonstration in Frankfurt, Germany. AP

Emergency personnel at a school building hit by shelling, in the village of Bilohorivka, Luhansk. Reuters

A man plays piano in an abandoned photo studio in Severodonetsk, eastern Ukraine. AFP

A man and his son wait for an evacuation bus in Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine. AFP

Volunteers deliver food supplies to residents, taken from the warehouse of a humanitarian aid distribution centre in Severodonetsk. AFP

An unexploded ordnance on a road in Severodonetsk. AFP

Galina Abdurashikova, 65, has been staying in an abondoned car in front of her apartment since her room was destroyed by shelling five days ago, in Severodonetsk. AFP

A large hole at the site where a missile strike hit a residential area in Bakhmut, Donetsk region. Reuters

A man searches for useful items inside his house after a missile strike in a residential area, in Bakhmut. Reuters

Two men look at the damage after a missile struck a cement plant, in Bakhmut. Reuters

Civilians attempting to leave Mariupol wait in line at a checkpoint near the temporary accommodation centre in Bezimenoye village. EPA

Civilians who were evacuated from Azovstal, walk in the temporary accommodation centre in Bezimenoye village, near Mariupol. EPA

A cyclist photographs the destroyed bridge over the Irpin river, in Irpin. Getty Images

A residential area destroyed by Russian shelling, in Irpin. Reuters

People with their luggage walk to a station to wait for the evacuation train heading to the west of Ukraine, in Pokrovsk, Donetsk region. EPA

A volunteer shapes metal plates at a factory producing material for Ukrainian soldiers in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine. AP

Workers clean shattered glass and debris in front of a residential building next to a site of a Russian missile attack in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa. AFP

A Ukrainian Army tank moves towards a fron-tline position in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Getty Images

Eugene Yevchenko cries as he bids farewell to his daughter Maria at a coach station in Lviv. Getty Images

A child stands on a destroyed Russian tank near Makariv, Kyiv region. Reuters

A Ukrainian national guard soldier mans a fighting position near the front line in Zelenodolsk. Getty Images

Museum workers carry the sculpture of Ukrainian philosopher Hryhorri Skovoroda from the destroyed building of the Hryhoriy Skovoroda National Literary Memorial Museum in the village of Skovorodynivka, in Kharkiv Region. AFP

The pipeline operator said Russian shipments through its Novopskov hub, in an area controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, would cease. It said the hub handles about a third of Russian gas passing through Ukraine to Western Europe. Russia’s state-owned natural gas company Gazprom put the figure at about a quarter.