10 hours ago, Ukrainian Head of Presidential Staff Yermak published the following video, showing Ukrainian troops raising their flag on the embattled island near Odessa. One hour before the posting, several Russian missiles struck Odessa itself, destroying two warehouses and 35 metric tons of grain being prepared for export.
Ukrainian General Staff publish video of their flag being planted on Snake Island. The Russian Ministry of Defense claims they countered the reclamation of the island with missile strikes. pic.twitter.com/E1N5pGIUXp
— Tessaron News (@TessaronF) July 7, 2022
The Russian Ministry of Defense also claimed to have killed several Ukrainian troops on the island and forces the remaining to withdraw following a missile strike. However, Ukrainian Operational Command South told press that Russian Airstrikes had indeed destroyed the pier on Zmiinyi Island, but it’s forces have not retreated. Their forces claimed to have cleared the island of “20 pieces of Russian military equipment”, which may be mines.
The reclamation of this island by the Ukrainians represents an opportunity to extend the Missile Engagement Zones of their surface-to-surface and anti-ship batteries if they can support them with surface-to-air batteries in order to negate the impressive Russian precision guided munitions inventory. The Russian Federation abandoned the outpost after constant Ukrainian strikes which decimated the infrastructure on the island and destroyed at least one Pantsir S-1 tactical SAM.
