On June 30, 2022, the Ukrainian servicemen successfully conducted an operation on Zmiinyi Island, as a result of which the invaders had to flee in a hurry, leaving behind burnt equipment and smashed buildings. Our military intelligence men planted a Ukrainian flag on the island.

It was a special operation of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, supported by other branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Its successful implementation made it possible to completely liberate Odesa region from russian invaders, as well as to regain control in the northwestern part of the Black Sea and over all trade routes leaving our ports.

“The liberation of Zmiinyi Island was a strategic operation because it led to the resumption of shipping. The russians were well aware of this [strategic importance], so they seized the island on the very first day,” said Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, in a documentary project “GUR. The Battle for the Sea. All Roads Lead to Crimea" of the national telethon “We Are Ukraine”.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence also said that the russian invaders are still trying to seize the Ukrainian island, but this is unrealistic.

“The russians do not give up trying to return this island. They regularly launch missile and bomb attacks. Several times we received information, and we saw confirmation of it, that the [russians] were preparing a similar operation to the one we conducted in our time. But they could not do it. Because they saw that it was no longer possible to knock the garrison out the island,” Kyrylo Budanov emphasized.