• Russian forces abandoned the strategic Black Sea out-post of Snake Island, in a major victory for Ukraine that could loosen the grip of Russia’s blockade on Ukrainian ports.
• Zmiinyi Island, also known as Snake or Serpent Island, is a small piece of rock less than 700 metres from end to end, that has been described as being X-shaped.
• It is located 35 km from the coast in the Black Sea, to the east of the mouth of the Danube and roughly southwest of the port city of Odessa.
• The Danube is the second longest river in Europe after the Volga.
• It rises in the Black Forest mountains of western Germany and flows for some 2,850 km to its mouth on the Black Sea.
• The island is marked on the map by the tiny village of Bile that is located on it, belongs to Ukraine.
• Black Sea is bound by Ukraine to the north and northwest, Russia and Georgia to the east, Turkey to the south, and Bulgaria and Romania to the west.

Important Straits related to the Black Sea:

• Black Sea links to the Sea of Marmara through the Bosphorus and then to the Aegean Sea through the Dardanelles.
• The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch.

Russian interest in Black Sea :

• For Russia, the Black Sea is both a stepping stone to the Mediterranean as well as a strategic buffer between NATO and itself.
• Domination of the Black Sea region is a geostrategic imperative for Moscow, both to project Russian power in the Mediterranean and to secure the economic gateway to key markets in southern Europe.
• Cutting Ukrainian access to the Black Sea will reduce it to a landlocked country and deal a crippling blow to its trade logistics.

Model Question

Q. The Zmiinyi Island or the Snake Island, recently seen in news, is located in which one of the following seas?

(a) Caspian Sea

(b) Mediterranean Sea

(c) Black Sea

(d) Baltic Sea

Answer : C

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