Russian forces abandoned the Black Sea Strategic Outpost on Snake Island on Thursday, in a major victory for Ukraine that could loosen the grip on Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had decided to withdraw from the outbreak as a “gesture of goodwill” to show that Moscow was not obstructing UN efforts to open a humanitarian corridor to transport grain from Ukraine. Ukraine said it had driven out Russian forces after a massive artillery and overnight attack. “KABOOM!” wrote on Twitter Andriy Yermak, head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “There are no more Russian troops on Snake Island. “The Armed Forces have done an excellent job for us.” Ukraine’s southern military administration posted on Facebook a picture of what the island looked like, as seen from the air, with at least five huge columns of black smoke rising above it from what it described as a rocket and artillery attack. “The enemy hurriedly evacuated the remnants of the guard with two speedboats and most likely left the island. At the moment, the island of the snake is being destroyed by fire, the explosions are breaking out “. Reuters could not immediately verify the photo or accounts of one side on the battlefield. The bare rocky wave controls the sea routes to Odessa, Ukraine’s main Black Sea port, and Russia’s domination of it has helped deter food shipments from one of the world’s leading grain suppliers. Snake Island has been in the spotlight since Russia captured it on the first day of the war, when a Ukrainian guard, ordered by Russian flagship Moskva to surrender, responded by radio: “Russian warship: go fuck yourself. yours “. “The most important aspect is that this could open the door to Ukrainian grain exports from Odessa, which is crucial for the Ukrainian economy and for global food supply,” Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Institute, wrote on Twitter. US-based Foreign Policy Research. Lifting the blockade has been a key strategic goal for the West: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has accused Russia of deliberately causing global hunger as “blackmail”. Moscow denies responsibility for food shortages and blames Western sanctions it says are restricting its own exports. Oleg Zdanov, a Kyiv-based military analyst, told Reuters that the withdrawal of Russians from Snake Island alone would not be enough to unblock Ukrainian ports. But it would reduce Russia’s control of the sea: “This is a great victory in the sense that we are neutralizing the dominance of the Black Sea Fleet,” he said. Last month, the British Defense Department said that if Russia were able to consolidate its commitment to Snake Island with air defense and coastal defense missiles, it could dominate the northwestern Black Sea. Russia has been defending the island since February, despite Ukraine increasingly claiming to have caused serious damage by sinking supply ships and destroying Russian fortifications. The new weapons sent by the West made the Russian guard even more vulnerable, especially the arrival of HIMARS, a powerful US-supplied missile system that Ukraine began using last week. Lee said Russia’s abandonment of the island was “probably a tangible result of NATO arms deliveries to Ukraine.” The head of the Ukrainian armed forces said that Ukrainian-made shells fired on the island played a role in expelling the Russians from it, but also thanked foreign countries for their support. Ukraine’s victory on Snake Island comes weeks after the conflict seemed to shift in favor of Russia, which has focused its firepower on occupying cities and towns in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. He captured the city of Sievierodonetsk last week after weeks of heavy fighting and is now trying to encircle the city of Lysychansk on the opposite side of the Siverskyi Donets River. Ukrainian authorities say they are trying to evacuate the remaining residents from Lysychansk, where they believe about 15,000 people remain. “The fighting is ongoing. The Russians are constantly under attack. “There is no resignation,” said Serhiy Gaidai, the regional governor, on Ukrainian television. A pro-Russian separatist official in the province told the RIA news agency that the Lysychansk oil refinery was now fully controlled by Russian and pro-Russian forces and that all roads to Lysychansk were also under their control. Ukraine says the main road is largely impassable due to the conflict, but the city has not yet been cut off. Despite the ground retreat and punitive losses in Donbas in recent weeks, Ukraine hopes to do enough damage to exhaust Russia’s advancing army. Ukrainian forces are launching a slow but steady counterattack in the south, where Russian proxies have announced preparations for a vote on joining Russia. Ukraine’s 60th Infantry Brigade said on Facebook on Thursday that it had recaptured the village of Potyomkine in the southern Kherson region. This could not be verified independently. 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