HMM: Ukraine drives Russian forces from Snake Island, a setback for Moscow.

Russian troops have withdrawn from Snake Island in the Black Sea after repeated assaults by Ukrainian forces, a move that is a setback for Moscow’s forces and possibly undermines their control over vital shipping lanes.

The retreat came after sustained Ukrainian attacks — including with powerful, newly arrived Western weapons — made it impossible for Russian forces to hold the island, a small speck of land 20 miles off the coast of Odesa that has played an outsized role throughout the war.

Coming only a week after the Kremlin bragged about repelling a Ukrainian attempt to retake the island, the Russian withdrawal appeared to be another instance of Moscow’s scaling down its military ambitions in the face of Ukrainian resistance.

Unlike Ukraine’s advances around Kyiv and Kharkiv, I believe this is the first time they’ve taken back land that Moscow had chosen to seriously defend.

Update: Moscow says the retreat is a “goodwill” measure to free up grain exports. “On June 30, as a step of goodwill, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation completed their tasks on the Snake Island and withdrew from the garrison stationed there.”