After pummeling the Russian garrison on the vital Snake Island, Ukraine declared a “major” win over Putin’s Black Sea forces.
The Kremlin troops suffered significant losses as a result of “aimed strikes with the use of multiple forces,” according to the southern operations command.
Images from space show the destruction caused by Ukrainian forces, including burning foliage and a tower that was knocked down during the battle for the island.
In the attacks on the island, which has been a key battleground throughout the war, the Russian Pantsir anti-aircraft system, a radar station, and vehicles were all damaged.
The loss of 55% of the pro-Russian rebels’ troops in Donetsk is just the most recent setback for Putin, who has already suffered “exceptional” losses, according to British intelligence.
Russian success has been hampered, according to the Ministry of Defence, and the Kremlin will now be forced to send reserve forces to the Donbas to make up for the casualties.
The 100-acre Snake Island base, which is located in the Black Sea about 80 miles off the southernmost point of Ukraine, has proven to be a useful strategic location for both sides.
Early in the conflict, Russia took possession of the island and has generally managed to hold onto it, but ever since, bombing strikes have targeted its forces there.
In February, Russian officers on board the Moskva received an infamous radio message from Ukrainian border guard Roman Hrybov on Snake Island: “Russian warship, go f*** yourselves.”
After the Moskva attacked the island with artillery fire, Hrybov and his crew were believed to be dead. However, they miraculously survived, and when they were brought to Ukrainian soil in a prisoner transfer last month, they were presented with decorations.
The most recent attacks come days after two Harpoon missiles used in the Black Sea to kill a Russian naval tugboat carrying personnel and weapons to Snake Island.
It was the first time Kyiv claimed to have fired Western-supplied anti-ship missiles at a Russian ship.
The tug Vasily Bekh was attacked at 4 am as it transported troops, weapons, and ammunition to a contentious island, according to footage from Ukraine’s Armed Forces Strategic Communications Directorate.
Later, according to Ukrainian reports, 23 sailors on the tug were injured and ten sailors were missing, assumed dead. 33 was assigned as the crew number.
The US initially developed the Harpoon anti-ship ballistic missile, which is presently produced by Boeing.
While the UK and Denmark have announced they will consider supplying ballistic missiles, the US has supplied Harpoon missiles to Ukraine. Where these ballistics had come from was not immediately apparent.
As of the time of the Snake Island combat, Russian casualties have reached 55% of the Donetsk People’s Republic forces’ initial strength, according to Britain.
According to data from the DPR, as of June 16, 2,128 military members had been killed in the line of duty and 8,897 had been injured since the year 2022 began, the British defense ministry reported in a daily Twitter update.
Since March 25, Russian officials have not made public the number of military fatalities in Ukraine, it continued.
The DPR has lost almost 55% of its initial force, according to the MoD, underscoring the extreme attrition Russian and pro-Russian forces are facing in the Donbas.
The likelihood that DPR soldiers are using antiquated weapons and gear is very high.
The ability to mobilize and send reserve units to the front is probably becoming more and more crucial to how the conflict turns out on both sides.
On Tuesday, Russian and separatist forces in eastern Ukraine advanced, moving closer to Lysychansk city, the major stronghold of the Ukrainian military in the Donbas.
Since April, Russia has advanced slowly in the Donbas in a conflict that has claimed thousands of troops’ lives on both sides and seen some of the fiercest fighting in Europe since World War Two.
Russian and Ukrainian forces have primarily occupied the east and west banks, respectively, of the Siverskyi Donets river, which winds through the Donbas.
However, it appears that Ukrainian army and 500 or so people are still resisting in a chemical plant in the east bank city of Sievierodonetsk.
Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of the Luhansk region, claimed that Russian forces were moving into Lysychansk and targeting police, state security, and prosecutor facilities as well as seizing towns and using planes to strike the city.
According to Zelenskiy’s advisor Oleskiy Arestovych, Russian forces may be able to shut off Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk from Ukrainian-controlled area.
He claimed in a video posted online that “the threat of a tactical Russian victory is there, but they haven’t done it yet.”
At least 15 civilians have been killed by Russian shelling in recent attacks in the northeastern Kharkiv region, according to the region’s governor.
According to Arestovych, “Russian soldiers are now attacking Kharkiv in the same way that they were attacking Mariupol” with the intention of terrorizing the populace. “The plan is to instigate one major issue to divert our attention,”
Today is a day of remembrance in both Russia and Ukraine to celebrate the anniversary of Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
As the “Day of Remembrance and Sorrow” to commemorate when Hitler’s Nazi Germany forces invaded the Soviet Union during World War Two, June 22 is a significant date in Russia.
Putin is scheduled to lay floral tributes.
To commemorate the occasion, the Russian defense ministry on Wednesday made public documents from the first days of World War Two that, according to the documents, indicate that Germany wanted to use the Soviet army’s alleged bombing of cemeteries and churches as justification for its invasion.
According to the Russian defense ministry, “much as today, the Nazis planned provocations in advance to defame our state.”
As Russian soldiers attempted to encircle two crucial cities in the Donbas, where Moscow has concentrated its war efforts, Ukraine claimed Wednesday that the eastern industrial city of Severodonetsk was “hell.”
Sergiy Gaiday, the regional governor of Lugansk, stated in a message posted on social media that “for four months all our positions have been under fire from everything – and I just want to emphasize this – from all the weapons that the Russian army has.”
He continued, “It’s simply hell out there,” alluding to Severodonetsk, which Russian soldiers have been relentlessly shelling for days in an effort to seize total control of the city.
He continued, “Our boys are holding their positions and will keep holding on as long as necessary.”
In recent days, Russian forces have gained territory south of Severodonetsk and gotten closer to Lysychansk, Severodonetsk’s sister city that is separated from it by the Donets River.
Lysychansk was still under the control of Ukrainian forces, according to Gaiday, who claimed that Russian soldiers were “trying to encircle the city.”
He continued, describing “colossal destruction” as “Lysychansk is being mercilessly shelled with big calibre weapons.”
According to Gaiday, “we are progressively bringing people out” of Lysychansk as they are steadily evacuated.
However, he claimed that because of the intensity of the combat, hundreds of residents in Severodonetsk who had sought sanctuary in the Azot chemical facility were unable to flee.
According to Gaiday, “Evacuation is doable if there is a high-level agreement, if there will be a cease-fire, and if there will be a clearly defined route.”