Russia pulls out troops from Snake Island
Russian forces abandoned the strategic Black Sea outpost of Snake Island yesterday, in a major victory for Ukraine that could loosen the grip of Russia's blockade on Ukrainian ports.
The news from the Black Sea came as Nato leaders wrapped up their summit in Madrid, intent on demonstrating their unity and determination to back up Kyiv with advanced weapons in the face of Moscow's assault.
Snake Island became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the first days of the war, when the rocky outcrop's defenders told a Russian warship that called on them to surrender to "go f*** yourself," an incident that spurred a defiant meme.
It was also a strategic target, sitting aside shipping lanes near Ukraine's port of Odessa. Russia had attempted to install missile and air defence batteries while under fire from drones.
Now, however, Ukraine has begun to receive longer range missiles and military gear from its Western backers, and the Russian position on Snake Island seems to have become untenable.
"In the end, it will prove impossible for (President Vladimir) Putin to hold down a country that will not accept his rule," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, stressing that any eventual peace deal would be on Ukraine's terms.
"We've seen what Ukraine can do to drive the Russians back. We've seen what they did around Kyiv and Kharkiv, now on Snake Island."
The Russian defence ministry statement described the retreat as "a gesture of goodwill" meant to demonstrate that Moscow will not interfere with UN efforts to organise protected grain exports from Ukraine.
But Kyiv claimed it as a win.
"They always downplay their defeats this way," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter.
In peacetime, Ukraine is a major agricultural exporter, but Russia's invasion has damaged farmland and seen Ukraine's ports seized, razed or blockaded -- threatening grain importers.
Western powers have accused Putin of using the trapped harvest as a weapon to increase pressure on the international community, and Russia has been accused of stealing grain.
The conflict in Ukraine has dominated the Nato summit in Madrid, where the leaders said Russia "is the most significant and direct threat to allies' security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area".
This came as Nato officially invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, and US President Joe Biden announced new deployments of US troops, ships and planes to Europe.
Biden yesterday announced $800 million in new weapons for Ukraine and said the United States will support Kyiv "as long as it takes" in its war against Russian invasion.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the alliance of seeking to assert its "supremacy", telling journalists in the Turkmenistan capital of Ashgabat that Ukraine and its people are "a means" for Nato to "defend their own interests."
"The Nato countries' leaders wish to... assert their supremacy, their imperial ambitions," Putin added.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed Putin's comments as "ridiculous" and said the Russian leader "has made imperialism the goal of his politics".
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hit back, saying that a new "iron curtain" was descending between Russia and the West.
Lavrov said Moscow would not trust Washington and Brussels "from now on".
"The EU is not at all interested in understanding our interests," Lavrov added.
"It is interested in what has been decided in Brussels. And what has been decided in Washington has been decided in Brussels."
After President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, the West has slapped Russia with several rounds of unprecedented sanctions.
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