Mysterious Island. How and why Serpentine became a stumbling block in the war between Russia and Ukraine

One of the most striking and at the same time tragicomic plots of the war between Russia and Ukraine is the story of the confrontation for the tiny island of Serpents. The Russian army lost almost $1 billion worth of weapons here, it was here that the legendary slogan “Russian warship, go fuck yourself” appeared, and after the surrender of the island, the Russian Ministry of Defense did not come up with anything better than calling the inglorious departure “a step of good will”. The Insider found out why it was around this island that the parties fought fierce battles for four months, what was actually at stake, and what does “sacred geography” have to do with it.

Kadyrov and the “LPR” authorities announced the encirclement of Lisichansk. The head of the National Guard of Ukraine says that the city is under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

The authorities of the “LPR” and the head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, announced on the morning of July 2 that the city of Lisichansk in the north-west of the Luhansk region was “completely surrounded” by Russian troops and forces of the “LPR”, in Ukraine they claim that the city is still under the control of the country’s armed forces