July 29th 2023.
Ukraine's elite 73rd Naval Centre of Operations recently spearheaded a daring mission to retake Snake Island in the Black Sea. The mission was a success, and the team was met with a hero's welcome when they returned.
The operation was an extremely difficult one, and the team knew they would be up against the full might of Russia's Black Sea force. The entire mission was planned with meticulous detail, and the team was prepared for any and all scenarios they might face.
The team had the fortune of having Poseidon on their side. A storm swept in just as the team was readying for their mission, providing the perfect cover for them to make their way past the bodies of Russian soldiers that had been chewed by sea creatures.
The mission was a symbolic and strategic victory for Ukraine. The 100-acre island lies 30 miles off the country's southern coast and is a strategic gateway to the port of Odesa and the Danube River Delta. The island has been a matter of contention between Ukraine and Russia for many years. Moscow had given the Ukrainian border guards an ultimatum to surrender the island in 2014, which they famously responded to with, “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.”
The mission was a success, despite the Russian forces responding with air strikes. The 73rd's divers used specialist equipment to check for anti-ship and anti-landing mines, and then cleared a safe passage for the rest of the team. Ukrainian flags were raised on the island as a sign of victory, and the team was able to use the storm to slip away undetected.
The 73rd's mission to reclaim Snake Island was a brave and difficult one, and the brave men and women of the team were met with a hero's welcome when they returned. It was a symbolic and strategic victory for Ukraine, and one that will not be forgotten any time soon.
Ukraine’s elite 73rd Naval Centre of Operations spearheaded a daring mission to recapture Snake Island in the Black Sea. It was a celebrated liberation, with a special forces unit that found that ‘Poseidon was on our side’.
A task force from the 73rd Naval Centre of Operations took advantage of a storm to ‘vanish’ after the mission. Commandos made their way past the bodies of Russian soldiers which had been chewed by sea creatures. The island had been given an ultimatum to surrender by the Russian crew onboard the Moskva missile cruiser, to which the Ukrainian defenders famously replied: ‘Russian warship, go f*** yourself.’
Vladimir Putin’s troops had captured the strategically valuable point on the first day of the full-scale invasion before being driven out by the defenders. Lieutenant Colonel Oleksandr Kindratenko, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, said that the liberators still faced a gamut of threats even after the Russians left on the eve of the mission.
The operation began at dawn to make the task force less visible to the enemy. The SOF task force approached as close as possible by boats and then divers used underwater vehicles to approach the coast and clear underwater mines and booby traps. Then the Ukrainian seals landed and with the help of deminers from the infantry made their way across the island and installed flags.
The Russian troops had mined the approaches and abandoned hardware including surface-to-air missiles before retreating. Moscow claimed the departure on June 30 last year was a ‘goodwill gesture’ but it came after Kyiv had launched months of artillery, air force, drone and missile strikes on invasion forces located on and around the island. Ukrainian flags were raised on Snake Island in a symbolic and strategic victory for Kyiv’s troops.
The 73rd’s divers used specialist equipment to check for anti-ship and anti-landing mines. Having cleared a safe passage for the rest of the task force to follow, engineers then landed on the abandoned ground to clear further mines and traps.
Lt Col Kindratenko told The Agency that Russian forces responded with air strikes but were unable to disrupt the mission as the SOF operatives used an incoming storm as cover to slip away. It was a remarkable accomplishment that Ukraine’s elite 73rd Naval Centre of Operations spearheaded to reclaim the remote outcrop in the Black Sea.
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