Symbol of Resistance: Zelensky visits the Snake Island in the Black Sea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the tiny Black Sea Snake Island whose defenders defied a Russian warship at the start of the invasion, as the conflict entered its 500th day.
“Today, we are on Snake Island, which the occupiers will never invade, like all of Ukraine, because we are the country of the brave,” he said in an undated video posted on social media.
“I want to thank from here, from this place of victory, every soldier of ours for these 500 days,” the Ukrainian president added in the clip in which he appeared arriving on the island by boat and laying flowers at a monument.
Moscow took control of the island shortly after launching its invasion on February 24, 2022.
The small Snake Island considered a strategic area in the Black Sea, which allows for the formation of serious and exposed threats at the same time.
This island has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
From the first day of the war, the Russians attacked it to seize it.
In communication over walkie-talkies, a recording was widely circulated, in which Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island can be heard saying, “Go to hell!” in response to the Russian ship Moskva, which was urging them to surrender.
Later the Ukrainian soldiers were captured but later freed in a prisoner exchange.
The Russian ship Moskva sank in the Black Sea in April.
Moscow said the cause was an explosion on board, while Ukraine announced that it had bombed the warship with missiles.
In June 2022, Ukrainian forces recaptured the island.