Ukraine raises flag over Snake Island in war gain

Ukrainian forces on Thursday once again hung their flag over the infamous Snake Island one week after Russia withdrew its soldiers from the highly contested Black Sea island. 

In a video posted to Twitter by Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, three soldiers can be seen near a large Ukrainian flag erected close to a building that appears to have been hit by shelling. 

The soldiers proceeded to place large pieces of rubble from the destroyed structure to secure the flag pole in place. 

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“More videos like this ahead from Ukrainian cities that are currently under temporary occupation,”Yermak said in his tweet. “We need to tell more about Ukraine’s victories over Russia. Snake Island is one such victory.”

Spokesperson for the Odesa Oblast Military Administration Serhiy Bratchuk posted similar images to Telegram and said, “The Ukrainian military has raised the Ukrainian flag on the Zmiinyi [Snake] Island”.

He included a picture of Ukrainian soldiers signing the flag with an inscription that read, “Bear in mind, ‘Russian warship’, Zmiinyi Island is Ukraine,” according to a translation by Ukrainian news outlet Pravda. 

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Head of the Odesa Oblast Military Administration, Maksym Marchenko, signed his name below the message. 

Moscow hastily withdrew its troops from the island last week following an overnight missile strike by Ukrainian forces that left the island covered in black smoke by the morning. 

Russian officials later claimed they abandoned the island as a “gesture of goodwill” as the UN and international partners look to secure shipping routes in the Black Sea to curb a growing food shortage crisis.

Though Russia’s Defense Ministry on Thursday claimed they struck Snake Island shortly after the flag had been erected with high precision missiles.

The ministry claimed that some of the servicemen seen with the flag were “destroyed” while the others retreated.

Fox News could not immediately verify Russia’s claims.