The liberation of Zmiinyi Island from Russian invaders in 2022 took place in several stages. The operation was the first time that the Defense Forces' marines landed in the occupied territory, say the representatives of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine.
According to a military intelligence representative, there were three stages of the operation to liberate Zmiinyi from the invaders.
"In three stages. It didn't work out the first time. This is normal. We could not completely clear the island... What, perhaps, was not taken into account? This was corrected later. That the Russian side would deploy air defense systems on boats, because they could not bring them to Zmiinyi Island," Skibitskyi said.
The DIU representative said that when the occupiers realized that they were no longer able to recover or significantly build up their forces on Zmiinyi, it was probably a turning point in the liberation of the island.
In turn, Budanov added that after that, the Russian invaders "were already nervous."
"We started to knock them out with missile and artillery strikes after the landing. And eventually we forced them to flee after suffering huge losses. And other groups immediately came in," the DIU chief said.
Skibitskyi also noted that it was "the first experience of landing a marine assault in the occupied territory."
Liberation of Zmiinyi
On June 30, 2022, the Russian invaders left Zmiinyi Island. After another successful operation by Ukrainian troops, the enemy hastily evacuated the remains of the garrison. As a result, this allowed the Armed Forces of Ukraine to completely liberate Odesa region from Russian occupants, prevent Russia from entering the region's coast, and open a "grain corridor".
According to the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, the liberation of Zmiinyi was a "complex, multi-level, and fraught with enormous risks special operation."
Earlier, it was also reported that on the symbolic date of 500 days of full-scale war, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Zmiinyi.