Ukraine founded the settlement of Bile on the officially uninhabited island to support its territorial claims in 2007. Part of the quarrel involved the mineral resources that the island is thought to be rich in. The dispute continued with Ukraine after the fall of the Soviet Union. Then it came under Soviet administration as part of a protocol delimiting borders, which Romania always disputed. Located close to the mouth of the Danube River, Snake Island was part of Romania until 1948. It could thus continue to prevent the millions of tons of Ukrainian grain currently being exported around the world by land from being shipped by sea in the future, too. If Russia were able to occupy the island permanently, it could block the export of goods via the port of Odesa. Secondly, located 200 kilometers south of Odesa, the biggest port city in Ukraine, Snake Island offers the army that controls it the chance to also control maritime traffic in the vicinity. There are very few islands in the Black Sea, for one. Though Snake Island might appear unremarkable at first glance, it has been strategically important for both Russia and Ukraine since the start of this war. In the past week, Ukraine's military has reported sinking a Russian landing boat near the island and severely damaging a naval supply vessel en route to the island with an anti-aircraft system on board. The island is still under Russia's control, but there has been fierce fighting. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Run on Russian warship stamp after ship sank The Ukrainian postal service even issued a stamp to commemorate the act. Audio recordings of a border guard telling a Russian warship where to go in coarse terms have gone viral and became an early symbol of Ukrainian resistance. The 13 Ukrainian border guards there became prisoners of war. On February 24, Russian troops invaded Ukraine, attacking from the north and east, and capturing Snake Island, which is located 200 kilometers from Kremlin-annexed Crimea and over 500 kilometers from the Donbas region, where pro-Russia forces have staged a yearslong battle against government troops.
Ukraine has issued stamps to celebrate resistance of border guards on Snake Island Image: Metin Aktas/AA/picture alliance And radio beacons have served important civilian and military purposes on the island since. In World War II, Axis forces led by Nazi Germany installed a radio station on Snake Island for Black Sea communications. According to ancient legend, the Trojan War hero Achilles was buried on Snake Island, which hosted a shrine to the Greek soldier that was destroyed when a lighthouse was built in the 19th century. It is not clear how many people live there today, but the population was estimated at 30-50 in 2015. Indeed, until 2007, there were officially no humans either. It is not clear where the name comes from as there are no snakes on Snake Island. Bile is the only settlement on Zmiinyi Ostrov, or Snake Island, a tiny islet that covers roughly 17 hectares (42 acres) on the Black Sea, about 35 kilometers (20 miles) from the Ukrainian coast.
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