Snake Island

The Snake Island Incident was a period of Russian occupation and military conflict for Snake Island, a small, strategically located Ukrainian island in the Black Sea. On 24 February 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Navy attacked Snake Island and captured it along with its entire garrison, beginning a military occupation of the island. The attack was widely publicized when an audio clip of the Russian cruiser Moskva hailing the island’s garrison over the radio demanding their surrender and being told “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” (Russian: ‘Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй’, tr. Russky voyenny korabl, idi na khuy) in response went viral, along with initial inaccurate reports of the garrison’s deaths. Later on, it emerged that a civilian search and rescue ship trying to evacuate the soldiers was also captured along with the garrison. The ship, its crew, and at least one soldier were subsequently freed in prisoner exchanges.

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