KYIV: Russian troops have abandoned their positions on the occupied Ukrainian island, in a major blow to their invasion effort that weakens their blockade Ukraineof ports, defense officials said on Thursday.
News from the Black Sea comes as NATO leaders conclude their summit with the US President in Madrid Joe Biden Announced $800 million in new weapons to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression.
“We want to be with Ukraine, and all coalitions are going to be with Ukraine until they are defeated by Russia,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir PutinThe US foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, compared the new diplomatic following to a return to the Cold War, telling reporters: “As far as the iron curtain is concerned, essentially it is already descending … the process It’s started.”
But there may be a possible opening: Indonesian President Joko Widodo said after meeting with Putin in Moscow that he had given the Russian leader a message from his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Snake Island became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the first days of the war, when defenders of the Rocky Outcrop told a Russian warship that they were called to surrender to “go f*ck yourself”, an incident that led to an outrage. Inspired meme.
It was also a strategic goal, separating shipping lanes near Ukraine’s Odessa port. Russia attempted to install missile and air defense batteries during drone fire.
Now, however, Ukraine is beginning to receive long-range missiles and artillery, and the Russian position on Snake Island has become unstable.
“In the end, it will prove impossible for Putin to stop a country that will not accept his rule,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the Russian president. Any peace agreement would be on the terms of Ukraine.
“We’ve seen what Ukraine can do to drive the Russians back. We’ve seen what they did around Kyiv and Kharkiv, which is now on Snake Island.”
The statement from the Russian Defense Ministry described the retreat as “a gesture of goodwill”, which meant that Moscow would not interfere with UN efforts to organize protected grain exports from Ukraine.
But Kyiv claimed it as a victory. “They always underestimate their defeat like this,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said on Twitter.
“I thank the defenders of the Odessa region, who took maximum measures to liberate a strategically important part of our territory,” Valery Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army, said on Telegram.
In peacetime, Ukraine is a major agricultural exporter, but Russia’s invasion has damaged agricultural land and seized, demolished or blocked Ukraine’s ports – with famine threatening grain importers in Africa.
Western powers have accused Putin of using the cropped crop as a weapon to increase pressure on the international community, and Russia has been accused of stealing grain.
A regional leader appointed by Russian occupation forces said a ship carrying 7,000 tonnes of grain departed the Ukrainian port of Burdiansk on Thursday.
The head of the pro-Moscow administration, Evgeny Balitsky, said Russia’s Black Sea ships were “ensuring the safety” of the voyage, adding that the port had been de-mine.
Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces were holding more than 6,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war who have been captured since the February 24 offensive.
The conflict in Ukraine dominated the NATO summit in Madrid, where leaders said Russia “poses the most significant and direct threat to the security of allies and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region”.
This was when NATO officially invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, and Biden announced new deployments of US troops, ships and aircraft to Europe.
Biden said the US move was what Putin “did not want” – and Moscow, facing fierce resistance from Western-armed Ukrainian forces, reacted with predictable fury.
Putin told reporters in Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat over the alliance, saying that while he is trying to assert his “dominance”, Ukraine and its people are “an instrument” for NATO to “protect its interests”.
“The leaders of NATO countries want to assert their supremacy, their imperialist ambitions,” Putin said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked PutinHe called the comments “ridiculous” and said the Russian leader had “made imperialism the goal of his politics”.
NATO leaders have given Ukraine billions of dollars in weapons and faced renewed appeals from Zelensky for more long-range artillery.
“Ukraine can count on us as long as it announces a new strategic overview focused on the Moscow threat,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said at the summit that ends on Thursday.
The document, updated for the first time since 2010, warned that the coalition “cannot discount the possibility” of attacks on its members.
Russian missiles continue to rain on cities across Ukraine.
Emergency services said rescue workers found the bodies of seven civilians killed in the rubble of a destroyed building in the southern city of Mykolaiv.
The city of Lisichansk in the eastern Donbass region – the current focus of Russia’s offensive – is also facing continued bombardment.
The UN humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine said on Thursday that 16 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian aid.
News from the Black Sea comes as NATO leaders conclude their summit with the US President in Madrid Joe Biden Announced $800 million in new weapons to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression.
“We want to be with Ukraine, and all coalitions are going to be with Ukraine until they are defeated by Russia,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir PutinThe US foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, compared the new diplomatic following to a return to the Cold War, telling reporters: “As far as the iron curtain is concerned, essentially it is already descending … the process It’s started.”
But there may be a possible opening: Indonesian President Joko Widodo said after meeting with Putin in Moscow that he had given the Russian leader a message from his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Snake Island became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the first days of the war, when defenders of the Rocky Outcrop told a Russian warship that they were called to surrender to “go f*ck yourself”, an incident that led to an outrage. Inspired meme.
It was also a strategic goal, separating shipping lanes near Ukraine’s Odessa port. Russia attempted to install missile and air defense batteries during drone fire.
Now, however, Ukraine is beginning to receive long-range missiles and artillery, and the Russian position on Snake Island has become unstable.
“In the end, it will prove impossible for Putin to stop a country that will not accept his rule,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned the Russian president. Any peace agreement would be on the terms of Ukraine.
“We’ve seen what Ukraine can do to drive the Russians back. We’ve seen what they did around Kyiv and Kharkiv, which is now on Snake Island.”
The statement from the Russian Defense Ministry described the retreat as “a gesture of goodwill”, which meant that Moscow would not interfere with UN efforts to organize protected grain exports from Ukraine.
But Kyiv claimed it as a victory. “They always underestimate their defeat like this,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said on Twitter.
“I thank the defenders of the Odessa region, who took maximum measures to liberate a strategically important part of our territory,” Valery Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army, said on Telegram.
In peacetime, Ukraine is a major agricultural exporter, but Russia’s invasion has damaged agricultural land and seized, demolished or blocked Ukraine’s ports – with famine threatening grain importers in Africa.
Western powers have accused Putin of using the cropped crop as a weapon to increase pressure on the international community, and Russia has been accused of stealing grain.
A regional leader appointed by Russian occupation forces said a ship carrying 7,000 tonnes of grain departed the Ukrainian port of Burdiansk on Thursday.
The head of the pro-Moscow administration, Evgeny Balitsky, said Russia’s Black Sea ships were “ensuring the safety” of the voyage, adding that the port had been de-mine.
Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces were holding more than 6,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war who have been captured since the February 24 offensive.
The conflict in Ukraine dominated the NATO summit in Madrid, where leaders said Russia “poses the most significant and direct threat to the security of allies and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region”.
This was when NATO officially invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, and Biden announced new deployments of US troops, ships and aircraft to Europe.
Biden said the US move was what Putin “did not want” – and Moscow, facing fierce resistance from Western-armed Ukrainian forces, reacted with predictable fury.
Putin told reporters in Turkmenistan capital Ashgabat over the alliance, saying that while he is trying to assert his “dominance”, Ukraine and its people are “an instrument” for NATO to “protect its interests”.
“The leaders of NATO countries want to assert their supremacy, their imperialist ambitions,” Putin said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sacked PutinHe called the comments “ridiculous” and said the Russian leader had “made imperialism the goal of his politics”.
NATO leaders have given Ukraine billions of dollars in weapons and faced renewed appeals from Zelensky for more long-range artillery.
“Ukraine can count on us as long as it announces a new strategic overview focused on the Moscow threat,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said at the summit that ends on Thursday.
The document, updated for the first time since 2010, warned that the coalition “cannot discount the possibility” of attacks on its members.
Russian missiles continue to rain on cities across Ukraine.
Emergency services said rescue workers found the bodies of seven civilians killed in the rubble of a destroyed building in the southern city of Mykolaiv.
The city of Lisichansk in the eastern Donbass region – the current focus of Russia’s offensive – is also facing continued bombardment.
The UN humanitarian coordinator in Ukraine said on Thursday that 16 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian aid.