Snake Island campaign

Overview

The Snake Island campaign was a period of Russian occupation and military conflict for Snake Island, a small, strategically located Ukrainian island in the Black Sea. On 24 February 2022, the first day of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Navy attacked Snake Island and captured it along with its entire garrison, beginning a military occupation of the island. The attack was widely publicized when an audio clip of the Russian cruiser Moskva hailing the island's garrison over the radio demanding their surrender and being told "Russian warship, go fuck yourself" in response went viral, along with initial inaccurate reports of the garrison's deaths. Later on, it emerged that a civilian search and rescue ship trying to evacuate the soldiers was also captured along with the garrison. The ship, its crew, and at least one soldier were subsequently freed in prisoner exchanges.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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.