How Ukraine’s ‘Venice’ has born the brunt of fight for Snake Island
t is remote, inhospitable, windswept and largely uninhabited, but it has been fought over for centuries. Legend has it that the rocky outcrop in the Black Sea was created by the sea god Poseidon as a home for the greatest of all Greek warriors: Achilles. And just like the demigod, the small, cross-shaped island has seen its share of wars. Today, the tiny piece of land is known as Snake Island , and on Monday Ukrainian forcesSmoke rises from Snake Island in this satellite image taken on 29 June.
Yuri knows Vylkove’s channels like the back of his hand. On his boat, he navigates the narrow waterways that in the summer months resemble those of Vietnam or Cambodia. Reeds and pile dwellings line the edge of the river as children play in the water. Every family in Vylkove has a boat, the city’s principal means of transportation.
Svitlana, 34, a tourist guide in Vylkove, said: “It was horrible. The planes were flying over our heads, and the blasts were very loud. Some windows cracked in older homes with wooden frames.”Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The GuardianBut worse than the blasts has been the economic impact of the fight over Snake Island. Because of the conflict, fishing is forbidden – a nightmare for a town known as the “Ukrainian Venice” that survives almost exclusively on fishing.
The phrase has become one of the most popular Ukrainian slogans of resistance, with the Ukrainian postal service, which was later sunk. Since Russia took control, Ukrainian troops have attempted to retake the island several times. Vladlen Tobak, diving instructor and founder of a diving school in Odesa, said he could not count how many times he had been to the island. “There was one time when I spent there an entire season with a scientists’ crew. It is probably the best diving spot in Ukraine. There’s a huge number of sunk objects, so wreck-diving there is No 1 in Ukraine. There are some prominent discoveries – for instance, there is a galley, or as we call it ‘amphora carrier’, fourth century BC, over 3,000 amphoras.
Russia claimed it had pulled out from the island as a “gesture of goodwill” to show it was not obstructing UN attempts to open a humanitarian corridor allowing grain to be shipped from Ukraine., near Odesa, has been interpreted by Ukrainian authorities as payback for Russian troops being forced from Snake Island the day before. At least 21 people, including two children, died after two Russian missiles struck a multi-storey block of flats and a recreation centre.
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