On Snake Island, the rocky Black Sea outcrop that became a Ukraine war legend - CNN

Snake Island, Ukraine CNN  — 

Snake Island has a peculiar spot successful Ukraine’s folklore, present much than ever. Its defiant defence – erstwhile a Russian warship was famously told to “go f*** yourself” – and past reconquest rallied a federation successful the aboriginal months of the struggle with Russia, puncturing the story of the invaders’ superiority.

Now, whipped by wintertime winds, it remains firmly successful Ukrainian hands – a speck of stone that has some symbolic and strategical significance.

A CNN squad became the archetypal overseas media to sojourn the land since it was recaptured successful June, and to talk with the commandant of the cognition that led to its liberation.

A fewer acres of stone and grass, treeless and hard to access, Snake Island, besides known arsenic Zmiinyi Island, lies astir 30 miles (48 kilometers) disconnected the Ukrainian coast, adjacent its maritime borderline with Romania.

Getting determination proved challenging: An hr being pitched from question to question successful a tiny boat, showered with spray, successful sub-freezing temperatures. The Black Sea tin beryllium unforgiving, and truthful tin its hazardous coastline. On the mode backmost our dirigible vessel got stuck connected a sandbar, and it took six hours earlier we were transferred, one-by-one, to different vas successful the darkness.

Snake Island is present a desolate place, strewn with wreckage, its fewer buildings reduced to shells, its half-sunken jetty battered by the tide. It’s a graveyard of costly subject hardware – and is littered with unexploded ordnance and mines. This is not a spot to beryllium careless.

The CNN squad saw astatine slightest 4 antithetic kinds of landmines, Russian Pantsir surface-to-air rocket systems, and an astir intact Tor anti-air rocket complex. There was besides the carcass of a Russian subject chopper that was hit.

Wondering among the wreckage, successful a surreal scene, were dozens of cats, astir apt the descendants of the lighthouse pets from a much peaceful time.

Ukraine keeps a tiny subject beingness connected the land arsenic an reflection mission. One of that detachment is really Russian, a unpaid with the Ukrainian forces who goes by the call-sign Fortuna.

He’d been surviving with his household successful Ukraine. “And present comes Russia attacking us. If immoderate different state had attacked america we’d combat too.”

Nowadays, helium says, the Russians aren’t doing overmuch attacking, astatine slightest successful this country of Ukraine.

“At this signifier the Russians lone execute aerial strikes,” Fortuna told CNN. “So we tin perceive them coming. Plus we person observers each on the perimeter and we person intelligence. So usually we are warned astir a imaginable attack.”

Occasionally they volition spot a Russian warship successful the distance.

“We request to beryllium connected defender 24/7 truthful we ne'er get bored. There is ever thing to get engaged with,” Fortuna says.

The troops present can’t pass with their families. Even erstwhile determination is simply a signal, turning connected your telephone invites a strike. The tiny boats utilized to ferry supplies are often incapable to marque the trip, truthful a rotation present tin get extended by the elements, sometimes for a week.

Snake Island fell successful the archetypal fewer days of the penetration successful February, arsenic Ukraine struggled connected aggregate fronts against Russian forces. But earlier it did, determination was a amusement of defiance that instantly became a meme for Ukraine’s determined resistance.

Ordered to surrender by an approaching Russian vessel, 1 of the tiny detachment determination responded by radio: “Russian warship: Go f*** yourself.”

Those words were echoed connected everything from T-shirts to postage stamps and roadworthy signs.

One of the tiny detachment connected the land told CNN it was a pivotal moment, encouraging radical to combat and volunteer.

The antheral who led the cognition to expel the Russians from the island, aft they occupied it for respective months, cannot uncover his existent name. As an serviceman successful subject quality helium goes by the call-sign Shakespeare.

“There are conscionable 4 oregon 5 officers similar maine successful Ukraine,” helium told CNN. “if I springiness immoderate details, everybody volition admit me.”

But helium did supply a elaborate relationship of the program to retake the island, which was palmy by the extremity of June.

Much of the hard enactment was done successful May, erstwhile exposed Russian positions were targeted. “It was each astir choosing the close benignant of artillery and operation of artillery,” Shakespeare said.

“The Russians made a mistake successful estimating we cannot scope them there. They thought we could lone occurrence aggregate rocket launchers astatine them, truthful they installed anti-air systems connected the island. They were capable to intercept our rockets, but we utilized analyzable strikes.”

“They conscionable mislaid manpower and tons of costly vehicles for nothing. This was their main mistake.”

French-made CAESARS arsenic good arsenic Grad rocket launchers were used, helium said, though helium was little complimentary astir the Ukrainian-developed Bogdana howitzer, which has a scope of 40 kilometers (25 miles).

“It was breaking much than firing,” Shakespeare told CNN.

They were plentifulness of challenges, peculiarly arsenic launching artillery crossed the oversea is thing similar firing it crossed land. “Different conditions, truthful aiming is complicated,” helium added. Reconnaissance drones helped marque the artillery occurrence much accurate.

The Ukrainians besides utilized the Turkish-supplied Bayrakhtar drone earlier the Russians introduced physics warfare measures and aerial defenses connected the island.

But the Russians had to vessel instrumentality from Sevastopol successful Crimea to support the island. And that was their 2nd mistake, Shakespeare said. This was a agelong and exposed proviso enactment susceptible to Ukrainian anti-ship missiles.

Shakespeare recalled the archetypal landing astatine the extremity of June, aft Russian positions had been pummeled.

“It was a portion from Special Ops Forces and deminers from the marine corps. Combat swimmers, divers. They checked h2o for the mines. Then others could attack the land connected the vessels.”

What they recovered was a deserted scrap yard.

“There was cipher determination … They near successful a hurry leaving down ammunition and equipment.”

That included the astir intact Tor complex. “If they’d had the time, they would person blown it up,” Shakespeare added.

Besides the immense boost to Ukrainian morale, the recapture of Snake Island had a strategical purpose.

“Controlling Snake Island allows you to power the rima of Danube. Without securing (the) land signing the atom woody would person been impossible,” Shakespeare said, referring to the UN-brokered atom inaugural agreed successful July that allowed Ukraine to restart exports done the Black Sea.

Our sojourn is needfully brief. Our hosts don’t privation Russia to person the clip to program thing and the upwind is deteriorating. In the slate-gray of the wintertime day we are whisked distant for our rendezvous with the sandbar.

But the enigma of the land stays with you. It is reputed to beryllium the burial spot of Achilles and erstwhile had a Greek temple. It was fought implicit by the Russian and Ottoman empires. It seems that each crag and cave hides a story.

Now determination is simply a modern fable to adhd to those fables.