Special Cancellation "Snake Island – Unconquered. Free. Ukr

On 7 July 2022, the State Flag of Ukraine was raised over Snake Island once again.

To mark the anniversary, Ukrposhta has prepared a set of two illustrated envelopes "Russian warship... all gone!" featuring the "Tryzub" postage stamp and special cancellation postmarks "Snake Island – Unconquered. Free. Ukrainian."

Postmark designer: Yurii Lisovskyi.

The special cancellation ceremonies will take place on 7 July 2026 in Kyiv (01001) and Odesa (65001).

Four years ago, what remained of the Russian forces and their equipment left Snake Island after relentless attacks by Ukraine's Defence Forces, which systematically destroyed Russian air defence systems, military equipment, supply vessels and the island garrison.

The campaign became one of the most complex multi-domain operations of the first months of Russia's full-scale invasion. One of its most remarkable episodes was the combat debut of Ukraine's prototype 2S22 Bohdana 155 mm self-propelled howitzer. Mounted on a barge because the island lay beyond the range of artillery deployed on land, it played a key role in striking Russian positions.
The liberation of Snake Island was a strategic victory. It prevented Russia from establishing full control over the northwestern Black Sea and removed a direct threat to the maritime routes leading to Odesa and the Danube Delta.

Although Snake Island covers just 17 hectares, it has served as a landmark for seafarers for more than two thousand years. In antiquity it was known by its Greek name Leuke ("White Island").
Ancient authors—including Arrian, Pliny the Elder, Pausanias, Strabo and Ovid—described Leuke as the sacred island of Achilles. It was home to a temple dedicated to the hero of the Trojan War, where sailors offered gifts and prayers for safe voyages.

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of the temple, dedicatory inscriptions, ancient pottery and, in the surrounding seabed, an ancient anchorage containing numerous stone and iron anchors used by ships from the 6th century BC until nearly modern times. Unfortunately, much of the temple was dismantled in the nineteenth century, when its stones were reused to build the island's lighthouse.

How did the Greek hero Achilles become associated with a small island in the Black Sea? According to the lost epic Aethiopis, known today through later ancient authors, the sea nymph Thetis carried her son Achilles to Leuke after his death in the Trojan War. There, according to the ancient tradition, the hero—or his immortal spirit—found eternal rest, giving rise to one of the best-known hero cults of the ancient Black Sea.

Today, Snake Island has once again become an island of heroes. It was here that the words which became one of the defining symbols of Ukraine's resistance were first spoken, and its liberation opened a new chapter in Ukraine's struggle for freedom and security in the Black Sea.