Ukrainian forces raised their flag on the recaptured Black Sea island in a symbol of resistance to Moscow, even as Russian forces consolidated gains in eastern Ukraine and examined the defenses of potential new targets.

Moscow quickly responded to the Ukrainian flag-raising ceremony. Moscow says one of its warplanes hit it Snake Island and destroyed part of the Ukrainian detachment there, he writes Reuters.

The small island, located about 140 kilometers south of the Ukrainian port of Odessa, is strategically important as it guards sea lanes. Russia left it at the end of June in, as he said, a gesture of goodwill – a victory for Ukraine that Kyiv hoped could loosen Moscow's blockade of Ukrainian ports.

Pictures released by Ukraine's Interior Ministry showed three Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue-and-yellow national flag afloat on Snake Island next to the remains of a collapsed building.