On May 7, there was talk on Russian social media about when in 2022, on the same day, a joint detachment consisting of servicemen from the 10th detachment of the Main Intelligence Directorate and members of the Security Service of the Special Operations Center “A” of Ukraine attempted to seize the island under the cover of aviation, Bayraktar TB-2 drones and boats. The Russians instructed the navy to repel the attack. The landing was preceded in the previous days by attacks by the Bayraktar and the Ukrainian Air Force on the island, the main goal of which was to destroy the Russian air defense covering the island.
After landing, the Ukrainians established fire contact with the Russians, which was of a focal nature over the entire island. Two years later, a former deputy of the Ukrainian Rada stated that the main purpose of the landing of Ukrainian special forces was to conduct public relations and make a film according to the plan of the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kirill Budanov. Overall, the venture was successful, as in the following years the GUR released several documentaries dedicated to the events of May 7. The films are still online.
The Ukrainian military did not immediately succeed in suppressing the resistance of the Russian Black Sea soldiers, and the Ukrainians themselves later recalled that the Russian military put up active resistance, constantly shooting, moving to another part of the island, changing positions. After they began to suffer deaths and injuries and after realizing that the task of capturing Snake Island had not been completed, the Ukrainians began to withdraw from the island on boats. To cover the retreat of their troops from the island, the Ukrainians used drones to hit the BK-16 boats that were heading to the island to provide assistance.
According to the same Ukrainian MP, the result of this battle, which lasted several hours, resulted in the loss of 16 Ukrainian servicemen and 8 wounded. Three of them remained on the island and were captured and later exchanged for Russian servicemen who were captured; Colonel Ruslan Popov, colonel of the 10th GUR detachment, also remained there.
The Russians also claim three years later that they suffered losses in the battle for Snake Island. These were the servicemen of the Black Sea Fleet. “Each of them fulfilled their duty to the end,” they write in the Russian social sphere. It is also worth mentioning the flight of the An-26, which was able on May 8, 2022, despite the threat from the Ukrainian air defense, to deliver to the island the cargo that the defenders needed, including communications.
A month and a half later, on June 30, 2022, the Russian garrison of the island left Snake Island, where the Ukrainians have been stationed since then and to this day.
Graziella Giangiulio
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