By Amr Mokhtar
جزيرة الثعبان هي جزيرة تقع قي البحر الأسود بالقرب من السواحل الشرقية لكل من أوكرانيا ورومانيا.
تبلغ مساحة الجزيرة مربع بطول 662م وعرض 440 م، أعلى نقطة بالجزيرة ترتفع لحوالي 41 م
ملكية الجزيرة متنازع عليها ما بين أوكرانيا ورومانيا حتى حكمت محكمة العدل الدولية قي 3 فبراير 2009 بأحقية أوكرانيا في ملكية الجزيرة، وترجع أهمية الجزيرة لكونها تحتوي مع مياهها الإقليمية على كميات كبيرة من الغاز الطبيعي والبترول..
معركة جزيرة الثعبان التي وقعت في 24 فبراير 2022 على جزيرة الثعبان خلال الغزو الروسي لأوكرانيا تمثل “رمزا ” للصمود الاوكرانى
ففي حوالي الساعة 18:00 بالتوقيت المحلي (+02:00)، أعلن حرس الحدود الأوكراني أن جزيرة الثعبان، الواقعة في المياه الإقليمية الأوكرانية في البحر الأسود، تعرضت لهجوم من السفن الروسية، خلال اليوم الأول من الغزو الروسي. وشارك الطراد موسكفا وزورق الدورية فاسيلي بيكوف الروسيتن في الهجوم باستخدام مدافع سطح السفينة.
وفقًا للتسجيل الصوتي الذي نشرته أوكراينسكا برافدا، رفض الجنود الأوكرانيين المتمركزين في الجزيرة الاستسلام.
في وقت لاحق من المساء، ذكرت دائرة حرس الحدود الحكومية أن الاتصال بالجزيرة قد فُقد وفي الساعة 22:00 (ت ع م+02:00)، أعلنت أن القوات الروسية استولت على الجزيرة بعد قصف بحري وجوي دمر جميع البنى التحتية في الجزيرة. قُتل ثلاثة عشر من حرس الحدود، يمثلون مجمل الوجود العسكري الأوكراني في الجزيرة، خلال المعركة بعد رفضهم الاستسلام. قام أحد الجنود الأوكرانيين ببث حي لحظة إطلاق السفينة الحربية الروسية النار.
، وكان قد أعلن الرئيس فولوديمير زيلينسكي أنه سيمنح جميع الحراس الثلاثة عشر على لقب بطل أوكرانيا، وهو أعلى لقب عسكري أوكراني. وتم إصدار طابع بريد تخليدا لذكراهم. حيث يفتفخر بهم عائلاتهم ، اصدقاءهم و بلدهم الغالية أوكرانيا.
حيث دائما سوف تتذكهرهم أوكرانيا و العالم إنهم رجال ضحوا بارواحهم فدا الحرية و الكرامة و عدم الاستلام لعدو غاشم على أرضهم الغالية.
Snake Island, also known as Serpent Island or Zmiinyi Island (Ukrainian: О́стрів Змії́ний, romanized: Ostriv Zmiinyi; Romanian: Insula Șerpilor; Russian: Змеиный, is an island belonging to Ukraine located in the Black Sea, near the Danube Delta, with an important role in delimiting Ukrainian territorial waters.
The island has been known since classical antiquity, and during that era hosted a Greek temple to Achilles.
The island is populated, reported to have under 30 people in 2012. A village, Bile, was founded in February 2007 with the purpose of consolidating the status of the island as an inhabited place. This happened during the period in which the island was part of a border dispute between Romania and Ukraine from 2004 to 2009, during which Romania contested the technical definition of the island and borders around it. The territorial limits of the continental shelf around Snake Island were delineated by the International Court of Justice in 2009, providing Romania with almost 80% of the disputed maritime territory
The importance of the island is due to the fact that it contains, along with its territorial waters, large quantities of natural gas and petroleum.
The Battle of Snake Island that took place on February 24, 2022, Snake Island during the Russian invasion of Ukraine at about 18:00 local time (became a “symbol” of Ukrainian resistance and determination in the face of the fierceness of the Russian attack on the island. The Ukrainian border guards announced that Snake Island, located In the Ukrainian territorial waters of the Black Sea came under attack from Russian ships, during the first day of the Russian invasion. The cruiser Moskva and the Russian patrol boat Vasily Bykov participated in the attack using deck guns. According to the audio recording published by Ukrainska Pravda ،
Ukrainian soldiers stationed on the island refused to surrender. Later in the evening, the State Border Guard Service reported that contact with the island was lost and at 22:00 (UTC +02:00), it announced that Russian forces had captured the island after a sea and air bombardment destroyed all infrastructure on the island. Thirteen border guards, representing the entire Ukrainian military presence on the island, were killed during the battle after refusing to surrender ” . Слава Украине ”
Ukrainian soldier broadcasts live the moment the Russian warship fired on. President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that he will award all 13 guards the title Hero of Ukraine, Ukraine’s highest military title. A postage stamp was issued in their memory. Where their families, friends, and dear country Ukraine are proud of them. Where Ukraine and the world will always remember them, they are men who sacrificed their lives for freedom and dignity, and not to surrender to a brutal enemy on their dear land.
On another side, The Ukrainian navy also accused Russian forces of illegally detaining the crew of a civilian search and rescue ship that Ukraine sent to the island on a humanitarian mission after the attack, as well as two priests who were accompanying them.
“The illegal seizure of a non-combatant civilian vessel that did not carry out any military mission is a violation of the rules and customs of war and international humanitarian law,” it warned.
A Russian defence ministry spokesman announced on Friday that 82 Ukrainian servicemen “laid down their weapons and voluntarily surrendered” on Zmiinyi Island, without mentioning whether the Russian warship carried out any strikes or inflicted casualties.
He said the captives were being “asked to sign an undertaking not to take part in hostilities” and would “be returned to their families in the near future”.
Zmiinyi Island lies in the north-western Black Sea, about 48km (30 miles) from the Ukrainian coast and 300km west of Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.
Russian Nav's Project 22160 patrol ship Vasily Bykov was damaged by a Ukrainian multiple launch rocket system in the Black Sea near #Odesa. The ship sank today. There is no information about its crew yet. pic.twitter.com/C5a3pY1IgK
— Ukraine Reporter (@StateOfUkraine) March 7, 2022
