Ukrainian forces on Thursday once again raised their flag over the infamous snake island a week after Russia withdrew its troops from the hotly contested Black Sea island. A video posted on Twitter by Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, shows three soldiers near a large Ukrainian flag that has been erected near a building that appears to have been hit by shelling. Soldiers proceeded to place large pieces of rubble from the damaged structure to secure the flagpole in place. In this photo provided by the Press Office of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on Thursday, July 7, 2022, Ukrainian soldiers place the state flag on Snake Island, in the Black Sea. (Press Office of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine via AP) RUSSIAN FORCES ‘EMPTYED’ FAMOUS SNAKE ISLAND, UKRAINIAN MILITARY SAYS “More videos like this are pending from Ukrainian cities currently under temporary occupation,” Yermak said in his tweet. “We need to say more about Ukraine’s victories over Russia. Snake Island is one such victory.” The representative of the Military Command of the Odesa Region Serhiy Bratchuk posted similar images on Telegram and said: “The Ukrainian army raised the Ukrainian flag in Zmiinyi [Snake] Island”. It included a photo of Ukrainian soldiers signing the flag with an inscription that read: “Please note, ‘Russian warship’, Zmiinyi Island is Ukraine,” according to a translation by Ukrainian news agency Pravda. VICTIM OF UKRAINE WAR AWAKENED BY RUSSIAN SOLDIERS FOUND MONTHS LATER The head of the Military Administration of the Odessa Region, Maxim Marchenko, signed his name below the message. Moscow hastily withdrew its troops from the island last week after an overnight missile attack by Ukrainian forces left the island shrouded in black smoke by the morning. Russian officials later claimed they abandoned the island as a “goodwill gesture” as the UN and international partners try to secure Black Sea coastal shipping routes to curb a growing food crisis. Although Russia’s defense ministry on Thursday claimed they hit Snake Island shortly after the flag was raised with precision missiles. In this photo provided by the Press Office of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine on Thursday, July 7, 2022, Ukrainian soldiers place the state flag on Snake Island, in the Black Sea. The Ukrainian army returned the Ukrainian flag to the island, which had been under the control of Russian troops for some time. (Press Office of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine via A) CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The ministry claimed that some of the soldiers seen with the flag were “destroyed” while others retreated. Fox News could not immediately verify the Russian claims. Caitlin McFall is a reporter for Fox News Digital. She can be reached at [email protected] or @ctlnmcfall on Twitter.
