KYIV, July 1(ABC): Russian troops have abandoned their positions on a captured Ukrainian island, a major setback to their invasion effort that weakens their blockade of Ukraine s ports, defence officials said on Thursday.
The news from the Black Sea came as NATO leaders wrapped up their summit in Madrid, with US President Joe Biden announcing $800 million in new weapons to help Ukraine fight off Russia s invasion.
“We are going to stick with Ukraine, and all of the alliance are going to stick with Ukraine, as long as it takes to make sure they are not defeated by Russia,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, compared the new diplomatic low to the return of the Cold War, telling reporters: “As far as an Iron Curtain is concerned, essentially it is already descending… The process has begun.”
But there may be a possible opening: Indonesia s President Joko Widodo said, after meeting Putin in Moscow, that he had given the Russian leader a message from their Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Snake Island became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the first days of the war, when the rocky outcrop s defenders told a Russian warship that called on them to surrender to “go f*ck yourself”, an incident that spurred a defiant meme.
It was also a strategic target, sitting aside shipping lanes near Ukraine s port of Odessa. Russia had attempted to install missile and air defence batteries while under fire from drones.
Now, however, Ukraine has begun to receive longer range missiles and artillery, and the Russian position on Snake Island seems to have become untenable.
– Strategically important –
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the Russian president that any eventual peace deal would be on Ukraine s terms.
“In the end, it will prove impossible for Putin to hold down a country that will not accept his rule,” he said.
“We ve seen what Ukraine can do to drive the Russians back. We ve seen what they did around Kyiv and Kharkiv, now on Snake Island.”
The Russian defence ministry statement described the retreat as “a gesture of goodwill” meant to demonstrate that Moscow will not interfere with UN efforts to organise protected grain exports from Ukraine.