Invasion: The Inside Story of Russia's Bloody War and Ukraine's Fight for Survival

by Luke Harding

Russia’s four-month occupation of Snake Island turned out to be a cursed experience. The naval command in Moscow made the outpost into a minifortress, to which it transferred missile batteries, anti-aircraft guns, radar, and reconnaissance vehicles. The military-strategic goal was to control airspace in the northwestern part of the Black Sea and to enforce a blockade of Ukrainian ships to stop them from leaving Odesa and other Black Sea ports. But the evil spirits said to roam the isle appeared to have returned—or so you might imagine. The Ukrainians used Bayraktar drones to strike the Russian contingent from the sky. The unmanned aerial vehicles blew up a helicopter delivering supplies and disabled a patrol vessel. Long-range rockets hurtled into the pier, its coordinates well known. Drone footage showed the Z-marked vehicles parked there disappearing in a roiling inferno. In late June, the Russians packed up and left. The Kremlin said it was abandoning Snake Island as a “goodwill gesture.” This was a significant Ukrainian victory. A week later, special forces commandos set off from the coast on a nighttime mission. Engineers found a mine-free sea path; the group walked at dawn across the island and raised the Ukrainian flag. They logged Russian hardware, rescued a cat, and departed in boats before Moscow’s ships counterattacked. A day later, Russia pummeled the island with phosphorus munitions. The museum—with its amphorae and other Greek relics—was destroyed, its exhibi...