The small Ukrainian island of Zmiinyi in the northwest of the Black Sea has drawn attention multiple times since the onset of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. This island, which is barely over 0.2 square kilometers in size, is located 35 kilometers from the shores of Odesa Oblast in southwestern Ukraine, bordering Romania. Until 2009, its sovereignty was disputed between the two countries.
On February 24, the first day of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Kyiv announced that it had lost control of the island, which holds strategic importance in isolating Ukraine from the Black Sea and cutting off Western weapon supplies to it. At that time, Kyiv's authorities stated that the garrison on the island had been killed in the battle against superior Russian forces. However, the Russian defense quickly revealed that the Ukrainian border guards stationed on the island had surrendered, refuting Kyiv's claims with videos of captured Ukrainian soldiers.
In the following months, Ukraine made concerted efforts to regain Zmiinyi, with Russian defense announcing the downing of several Ukrainian aircraft and helicopters and thwarting an attempted landing on the island. They indicated that casualties sustained by Ukrainian forces around Zmiinyi over several days included approximately 30 drones and 30 fatalities.
In the early hours of June 20, the Kyiv regime attempted once again to reclaim Zmiinyi by launching intensive aerial and artillery strikes followed by a troop landing. However, the Russian defense confirmed that its air defenses repelled the attack, shooting down 13 drones, four Tochka-U missiles, and 21 rockets from Uragan multiple rocket launchers, with no Ukrainian weapons reaching their targets on the island. Due to the failure of its missile attack, Ukrainian forces were compelled to abandon the landing operation on Zmiinyi.
After inflicting significant losses on the Ukrainian army and accomplishing combat missions on the island, Moscow decided to withdraw its forces as a goodwill gesture to facilitate UN efforts to transport Ukrainian agricultural products to global markets and deny Kyiv the opportunity to use the presence of Russian troops on Zmiinyi as a pretext to blame Russia for hindering grain export operations, especially since Kyiv has not yet removed mines from the waters in the region.
