On the 500th day after the Russian invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky traveled to Snake Island, a Black Sea rock made famous when Ukrainian defenders braved a Russian warship. Zelensky thanked all the soldiers who have fought against the Russians in the past sixteen months.

“Today we are on Snake Island, which the occupiers will never invade, just like all of Ukraine, because we are the land of the brave,” Zelensky stated in an undated video message posted on social media on Saturday.

Snake Island became known shortly after the invasion in February 2022 when a Ukrainian garrison resisted a Russian takeover. Strategically located island. When the Russian warship Moskva called on the defenders to surrender, they responded with the terse phrase “Russian warship, run away”. The island was later captured, but Ukraine regained control in June 2022.

His ministry said on Saturday that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu inspected troops and trained new units on the 500th day after the invasion of Ukraine. Video footage broadcast by the social media channel Telegram showed Shoigu in military uniform while seeing soldiers at a shooting range.

It was Shoigu’s first public appearance since the failed uprising of Wagner’s mercenaries led by Yevgeny Prigozhin last month. Prigozhin had called for the resignation of Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov over the disappointing results of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.

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