Snake Island campaign

Significance

The Snake Island campaign began on the first day of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, when the Russian Navy attacked and captured the island along with its entire garrison. The island's strategic position in the Black Sea made its seizure an early Russian objective. The campaign drew wide international attention when an audio recording of the garrison's defiant response to a surrender demand from the cruiser Moskva went viral, becoming a prominent symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the early weeks of the war. Initial reports, later proven inaccurate, stated the garrison had been killed. A civilian search and rescue vessel attempting to evacuate the soldiers was also captured during the operation; the ship, its crew, and at least one soldier were subsequently freed through prisoner exchanges.