The fact that the Russian army strengthened its control over Zmiinyi Island (Snake Island) in the Black Sea and activated various defense systems shows that it intends to protect this strategic point despite the threat of new Ukrainian artillery and missile systems.
The latest satellite images of this islet, located off the coasts of Ukraine and Romania, make it possible to distinguish between different types of surface-to-air defenses. The Russians also installed defense systems on nearby ships to supplement the protection.
“The Russians have deployed several anti-aircraft systems on the island covering various threat spectra: SA-13, Pantsir, Tor, ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns,” said French researcher Pierre Grasser, expert on Russian Defense.
“They have recently consolidated their position (…) Strategically, all this makes sense even before the new Ukrainian sources,” analyzes a French military source, who asked not to be identified.
The Westerners gave Ukraine several mobile artillery systems that would theoretically allow it to bombard the island from the coastline about 30 km away. Among them are the French Caesar cannons, but best of all, the Himars multiple rocket launchers sent by the Americans – currently in use somewhere between Western Europe and Ukraine.
“These systems will soon join the battle and we are determined to continue to feed the ammunition flow,” US Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl said this week.
At the same time, relativizing this possible limitation, Grasser said that the anti-aircraft systems currently deployed by the Russians “will not be able to intercept guided rockets launched by Himars, that’s for sure.”
However, because they are mobile systems, “the Russians can do what the Ukrainians have done so well since the beginning of the war: move them when they detect an imminent threat”, even on a “small island”, this expert noted. .
blasted attack
The Russian defense “is there, first of all, to repel attempts to bring Ukrainian commandos to the island,” he explains, noting that Kiev tried to do so at least once on the night of May 7-8. The commandos were terminated.
The island is very important.
From the first day of the Russian offensive on February 24, the invaders consolidated their control and then fought to protect it, losing their men and materials. Not far away, the cruiser “Moskva” was hit by a Ukrainian missile, inflicting the worst humiliation on the Russian Navy in decades.
On Friday, 17th, Ukrainians said they had missilely bombed a Russian auxiliary ship equipped with an anti-aircraft system near the island.
“Originally designed for salvage at sea, this ship served as an improvised anti-aircraft platform. A Tor system was installed on it,” says Grasser.
Defense analyst HI Sutton, who specializes in naval issues, said on Twitter that these ships were “used to feed the island” and that it was “of strategic importance” – not just militarily, but also economically.
The island is located at the mouth of the Danube, one of the continent’s most important rivers and a European trade artery. Whoever controls the island can attack this point. It can also act as a launch pad towards Odessa and even Romania. There are also hydrocarbon deposits nearby.
source: Noticias
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