new long -range and more precise howitzers have forced the Russian army to evacuate this strategic island, which makes it possible to control access to Ukrainian ports. But the naval blockade imposed by Moscow still holds.
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This is a tactical defeat for Russia in the strategically the most important area of the conflict with Ukraine. Moscow was forced, Thursday, June 30, in the morning, to withdraw its forces from the island from the snakes after a series of increasingly precise Ukrainian bombings.
Located 35 km off the Ukrainian coast, at the Danube delta and close to the Romanian border, the island of snakes allowed the Russian forces, for four months, to place a lock on maritime traffic since and towards Ukrai ports niens. The Russian system consisted of a radar station coupled with several anti -aircraft and anti -annual systems prohibiting maritime navigation as aerial in an area of approximately 100 km around the islet. Until April, Russian marine infantry commandos would also have used snake island as an advanced basis to prepare a landing in the Odessa region, a scenario that has not been realized.
The commander -in -chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valeri Zaloujny, was delighted with the defeat inflicted on the Russian invader on his Facebook page. “Unable to resist the fire of our artillery, our missiles and our air strikes, the occupants left the island of snakes,” wrote the general. Offering some details on the deployed arsenal, he indicates to thank “the designers and manufacturers of the Ukrainian self -propelled belly Bohdan, who played an important role in the release of the island. Thank you to foreign partners for the means of destruction provided” , he said, without specifying what foreign weapons he was referring to. Ukrainian and Russian sources suggest that the caesar self -propelled belly, of which twelve copies were delivered by France, would have taken part in the operation.
a black series for Moscow
General Zaloujny also specifies that strikes were led by missiles and planes. The Turkish manufacturing drone Bayraktar TB2 has been used to correct artillery fire. The two types of howitzers, Bohdan and Caesar, have a range of around 40 km, or even up to 60 km with self -propelled shells of the Excalibur type. One as the other were only recently integrated into the Ukrainian arsenal and made it possible to submit Russian positions to a fire that is both nourished and precise, which its artillery of Soviet design did not allow it until ‘Here, for lack of sufficient scope.
Vulnerability and strategic position made the island a target of choice on the first day of the offensive. On February 24, two Russian buildings, including the Moskva missile cruiser, threaten the Ukrainian garrison on the island of snakes. This is the beginning of a black series for Moscow. A Ukrainian soldier responds with a formula to the air of challenge: “Russian warship, will make you fuck”, which immediately becomes a rallying cry throughout the country. Back in April when he came in reinforcement, off the island, the Moskva cruiser is sunk by two Ukrainian missiles, in the worst camouflet suffered by the Russian Navy since the Second World War.
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