Mission Snake Island? Three Russian Warships Seen Off Crimean Coast

As the Russian bid to seize the strategic Snake Island continues, reports have emerged that three Russian warships have been spotted off the Crimea coast Friday.

This includes a frigate, possibly Admiral Essen of the Admiral Grigorovich class, and two landing crafts. According to defense analyst H I Sutton, the landing ships are likely a Ropucha class vessel and an Ivan Gren class landing ship Pyotr Morgunov.

Though the analyst did not give any other details about where the ships might be headed, Russian media reports have confirmed the presence of ships in the Black Sea.

According to the Russian military journal Avia.pro, there are four ships, the fourth vessel being an unidentified type. The vessels are reportedly heading toward the Ukrainian coast. A photograph shared along with the report claims that though the vessels are advancing toward the western part of the Black Sea, their route and final destination remain unknown so far. The Russian officials too haven't given any confirmation about the vessels.

The flurry of activity by the Black Sea Fleet over the last few days have triggered speculations that the landing ships may be transporting large consignments of goods or military equipment and military personnel. There are also rumors that the ships are headed for Snake Island.

The battle for Snake Island is a significant one as taking over the island would help Russia cut the freedom of sea lanes between the port of Odesa and the rest of the world. The fact that much of Ukraine's agricultural wealth travels to global markets from Odesa makes the invasion of Snake Island a top priority for Russians.

"Whoever controls the island can block the movement of civilian vessels in all directions to the south of Ukraine at any time," Ukraine's defense intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov was quoted by CNN.

This isn't the first time that Russian landing crafts are observed next to Snake Island. On May 9, another landing craft, a Dyugon class landing ship was observed next to Snake island and according to Sutton, this was likely attempting to deliver yet another SA-15 Tor air defense system to the island.

The Odesa Regional Military Administration claimed soon that the Russian support ship 'Vsevolod Bobrov' was on fire and being towed to Sevastopol from Snake Island. However, the claim remained unverified.