Snake Island

Snake Island, also known as Serpent Island, White Island, Island of Achilles or Zmiinyi Island (Ukrainian: острів Змії́ний, romanized: ostriv Zmiinyi; Romanian: Insula Șerpilor), is a Ukrainian island located in the Black Sea, near the Danube Delta, with an important role in delimiting Ukrainian territorial waters. The island has been known since classical antiquity, and during that era hosted a Greek temple to Achilles. Today, it is administered as part of Izmail Raion of Ukraine's Odesa Oblast. The island is populated, reported to have under 30 people in 2012. A village, Bile, was founded in February 2007 with the purpose of consolidating the status of the island as an inhabited place. This happened during the period in which the island was part of a border dispute between Romania and Ukraine from 2004 to 2009, during which Romania contested the technical definition of the island and borders around it. The territorial limits of the continental shelf around Snake Island were delineated by the International Court of Justice in 2009, providing Romania with almost 80% of the disputed maritime territory. In the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, two Russian navy warships attacked and captured Snake Island. It was subsequently bombarded heavily by Ukraine and recaptured within a few months, following a Russian withdrawal.