The Ukrainian army said on Thursday July 7 that it had regained control of Serpents' Island in the Black Sea, after having handed over its flag there a few days earlier, following the withdrawal of Russian forces from this small symbolic territory.
“
We (there) have effectively restored our control
,” said a senior official of the Ukrainian army staff, Oleksiï Gromov, quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine press agency, specifying that it was a question of of "
physical control
" of the military.
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According to him, the Ukrainian soldiers who participated in the operation, however, returned to their barracks.
He did not specify whether soldiers remained on the island.
"
Last week, we established armed control of the island and prevented the enemy from taking away the rest of its units, weapons and military equipment
," he continued.
Iconic since day one
The Russian Defense Ministry said it carried out a strike Thursday morning on Serpents' Island with "
high-precision missiles
", killing some of the Ukrainian soldiers who went to plant a flag there and causing the survivors to flee. .
kyiv had however announced on Monday that the Ukrainian flag was floating again on this small piece of land located in the northwest of the Black Sea.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: the Russian withdrawal from Serpents' Island, a Ukrainian victory with uncertain military consequences
This island became emblematic from the first day of the Russian invasion when a member of the small Ukrainian garrison defending it ordered the Russian ship which demanded its surrender to “
go fuck itself
”.
Passed under Russian control, it was taken over by the Ukrainians last week, following intense bombardments.
Moscow claimed to withdraw from this territory "
as a sign of goodwill
", after having "
achieved
" the "
set objectives
".