[10][11][12] This position makes it strategically important, allowing whoever controls it to blockade Odesa and dominate large parts of the Black Sea, including the area Constanta.

[30] On 26 February 2022, Ukrainian authorities announced that the civilian search and rescue ship Sapfir had been captured by the Russian Navy off Snake Island.

[20] Russian defence media presented an alternative version of events, claiming that 82 Ukrainian soldiers had been taken prisoner after surrendering voluntarily,[23] and had been taken to Sevastopol.

[35] Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that the prisoners had been signing pledges promising not to continue military action against Russia, and would be released soon.

[42] On 30 March 2022, it was reported that the soldier who made the remark toward the ship was released in a prisoner exchange, and subsequently awarded a Ukrainian medal.

[53][54] On 7 May, Ukraine officials reported and displayed footage of a Russian Serna-class landing craft located in the Black Sea being destroyed near Snake Island by a Ukrainian Baykar Bayraktar TB2 drone.

[67] On 12 May, Ukraine claimed it had attacked Russian logistics ship Vsevolod Bobrov near Snake Island while it was attempting to deliver an air defense system, causing it to catch on fire and be towed back to Sevastopol.

[68][69] On the same day, Maxar Technologies captured a satellite image of a Russian Serna-class landing craft taking evasive maneuvers from a Ukrainian missile.

[72] On 17 June, Ukraine sunk the Russian tug Spasatel Vasily Bekh with two Harpoon missiles, preventing it from delivering vital supplies such as weapons and personnel and forcing Russia to rethink their position on the island.

[83][84] Russia claimed that their troops had completed their assigned tasks and that the move was a "goodwill gesture" to demonstrate that Russia was not preventing the establishment of a shipping corridor to allow the export of grain from Odesa,[85] while Ukraine claimed that they forced the Russians to withdraw in two speedboats through artillery and missile attacks;[86] photos show the island enveloped in smoke.

[91] On 7 July, Russian Defence Ministry announced its aircraft carried out another missile strike against Snake Island, killing a number of Ukrainian troops there.

British naval analyst Jonathan Bentham and Romanian historian Dorin Dobrincu believe that if Russia deploys missile systems, such as the S-400, NATO's southern flank would be in serious danger.

Russian military-political analyst Alexander Mikhailov stated that with Snake Island Russia can control and blockade naval traffic between the north-western Black Sea and the Danube Delta.

Romania's Euro-Atlantic Resilience Centre believes Russia's intention in capturing Snake Island is to annex it in order to control as many shipping routes as possible that lead to the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey.

It is believed that with the loss of such a large vessel and the air defense void left behind for the Russian Black Sea fleet, the Ukrainian forces became emboldened to carry out these attacks on the Russian-occupied Snake Island.

[98][99] Russian forces made efforts to improve their air defenses on Snake Island following the loss of the Moskva and repeated Ukrainian airstrikes.

As such, after the sinking of the Moskva missile cruiser and the withdraw of the Black Sea Fleet, the island was effectively cut out of the Russian air defense envelope.

To further decrease the effectiveness of the local scattered SHORAD Systems, the island is small and offers no place to cover, not even trees: not able to hide, not able to run, lacking in range, fighter top cover, situational awareness, scattered SHORAD systems on a small rocky island turned to be simple targets for any aerial asset out-ranging them.

Secondary elements in the initial success included the TB2 being a modular design allowing it to be assembled and dissembled quickly in areas where larger aircraft or UAVs can't operate.

[104] Following the Russian force's retreat from the island, the US Department of Defense and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stated that Ukraine will be able to better defend Odesa and nearby coastal regions.

[102][105] Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, emphasized the importance of Russia's retreat by claiming that Russian signals intelligence were present on the island and could monitor the Odesa Oblast, the Bessarabia region, and Transnistria.

[105][79] In terms of casualties, on 14 May, Ukrainian intelligence have claimed that out of 40 Russian officers deployed to Snake Island, only eight have returned alive back to Sevastopol.

[60][107] Forbes estimated that Russia lost $915 million worth of equipment occupying Snake Island, around three-quarters of which belonged to the cruiser Moskva.

[111] On 13 April 2022, the warship Moskva that was used in the attack and that the Ukrainians had told to "go fuck yourself" exploded and burned, according to Ukraine as a result of being hit by two R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles fired from offshore in or near Odesa.