The strategic territory of Snake Island is "free again," Zelensky says

 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a late-night report on Thursday that Snake Island was "free again."

“Zmiinyi [Snake] Island is a strategic location that has significantly changed the situation in the Black Sea. It does not guarantee security, nor does it guarantee that the enemy will not return. But it has severely restricted the movements of the occupiers. We will take step by step They drive out of our oceans, our lands and our skies," Zelensky said.

This small but strategic area was one of the opening lines of the Ukrainian war, when Russian warships demanded the surrender of the Ukrainian defenders, to which they boldly replied: "Russian warships, get ready."
Impact-Site-Verification: 4aa8ff6e-e7c4-472e-b8e2-a8994b21f084
Snake Island, known as Zmiinyi Ostriv in Ukrainian, is located about 48 kilometers off the coast of Ukraine, near the sea route to the Bosphorus and the Mediterranean Sea.

 Some background: Ukrainian troops said Russian troops left the island on Thursday after conducting what they described as a "successful" operation. Meanwhile, Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov told a briefing that its troops left the island "as a gesture of goodwill".