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All rights reserved The battle for the strategic outcrop has shaken the fishing village of Vylkove driven away after months of heavy bombardment Smoke rises from Snake Island in this satellite image taken on 29 June Photograph: Planet Labs Pbc/ReutersThe fight for Snake Island has strategic value but most important it is of national significance for all Ukrainians especially in their country’s darkest hour on the Ukrainian side of the Danube River and the closest inhabited area to the Island the battle to regain control over this outcrop has upended the lives of inhabitants The intense fighting on the island between Russian and Ukrainian forces in some cases opening cracks in their walls has been fishing the waters of the Black Sea since he was a boy so when they start bombing Snake Island it was very loud around here,” he said Yuri Suslov 43: ‘It’s a scary situation but I don’t think the Russians are going to attack us.’ Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The GuardianYuri knows Vylkove’s channels like the back of his hand he navigates the narrow waterways that in the summer months resemble those of Vietnam or Cambodia Reeds and pile dwellings line the edge of the river as children play in the water the city’s principal means of transportation Vylkove’s waterways that flow to the mouth of the Danube giving access to the Black Sea in the direction of Snake Island but I don’t think the Russians are going to attack us,” said Yuri Some windows cracked in older homes with wooden frames.” Vylkove is known as Ukrainian Venice because of its water channels. Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The GuardianThe town survives almost exclusively on fishing Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The GuardianBut worse than the blasts has been the economic impact of the fight over Snake Island fishing is forbidden – a nightmare for a town known as the “Ukrainian Venice” that survives almost exclusively on fishing “This town belongs to the fishermen and they were not allowed to even sail out,” said Svitlana “And fishing is their main source of income almost 25% of local residents were involved in tourism about 80% of locals who were involved in water tourism or fishing are suffering after a Ukrainian soldier posted on the island told the attacking Russian warship: “Go fuck yourself” The phrase has become one of the most popular Ukrainian slogans of resistance, with the Ukrainian postal service issuing a stamp showing a Ukrainian soldier giving the finger to the Russian cruiser Moskva Ukrainian troops have attempted to retake the island several times “There were no official tourists on Snake Island,” said Svitlana “You could get a permission from the border guards and go there but frankly it was quite complicated and expensive.” The only people authorised to visit the island were military personnel on patrol and a handful of fortunate divers who would regularly survey the area to admire the 49 species of fish inhabiting the waters and wrecks of military vehicles and vessels such as the Soviet submarine “Pike” which lies at a depth of 35 meters a reminder that this place has been a regular theatre of war diving instructor and founder of a diving school in Odesa said he could not count how many times he had been to the island “There was one time when I spent there an entire season with a scientists’ crew It is probably the best diving spot in Ukraine There are some prominent discoveries – for instance And now the historians are really worried about that object’s fate.’’ Today the sea around Snake Island is infested with thousands of mines dropped by the Russians a problem many believe will further impede a return to normality in Vylkove even if for now Snake Island is once again in Ukrainian hands said authorities were working on a de-mining plan using robots but it would be months before it could be put into operation A sealed-off beach in Odesa The coastal town has been under periodic bombardment by Russian forces Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The GuardianRussia claimed it had pulled out from the island as a “gesture of goodwill” to show it was not obstructing UN attempts to open a humanitarian corridor allowing grain to be shipped from Ukraine A Russian military attack on Friday on the town of Serhiivka has been interpreted by Ukrainian authorities as payback for Russian troops being forced from Snake Island the day before died after two Russian missiles struck a multi-storey block of flats and a recreation centre but also in the fact that controlling it implies holding a military stronghold in the Black Sea told Ukrainian TV that Snake Island’s recapture was a “huge victory” He said that after Ukraine destroyed Russia’s Moskva warship the Russians wanted to turn Snake Island into an anti-aircraft defence hub and use it to control the entire western part of the Black Sea and launch a land invasion “Now the Russians cannot do anything in this area of the sea shell Ukrainian cities with missiles from their ships,” Denysenko said people know very well that their fate is linked to that of Snake Island and that Ukraine has won this battle – but not the war “Many people think that Snake Island is just a useless rock in the middle of the sea,” said Svitlana And for months we have been paying the price for our proximity to the island Por un futuro en el que los humanos vivan en armonía con la naturaleza WWF® and ©1986 Panda Symbol are owned by WWF You are using an outdated browser. 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