“This is a Russian military warship. I suggest you lay down your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and needless casualties. Otherwise, you will be bombed,” the Russian warship warned.
A pause was taken by the Ukrainians, asking whether they should tell the warship to “f*ck off,” to which they agreed and told the Russians to plainly, “Go f*ck yourself.”
Afterward, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the sailors as having “died heroically” and announced that all members of the Snake Island garrison would be awarded the “Hero of Ukraine” award “posthumously.” The award is considered the highest military honor one can obtain from the President of Ukraine.
“Defending the Zmeinyi island, all our border guards died a heroic death. But they have not surrendered,” said Zelensky. “They will all be awarded posthumously the title of the Hero of Ukraine. Let those who gave their lives for Ukraine be remembered forever.”
They were later confirmed to be alive by the Ukrainian government after Russia Today, a state-controlled media outlet, had released footage of the Snake Island sailors being offloaded to Sevastopol, Crimea, where the Russians have controlled the area since 2014.
The postage stamp named "Russian warship, go f**k yourself!" will appear in🇺🇦. The sketch by artist Boris Groh received the most votes and will soon be published by Ukraine's state postal company.
🇺🇦✌️#StandWithUkraine#StopRussianAgression pic.twitter.com/ByYAzw2tYq— Emine Dzheppar (@EmineDzheppar) March 12, 2022
The sailors became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance, so much that Ukraine had made a postage stamp depicting the Ukrainian soldier showing the middle finger to a Russian warship and subsequently named it “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself!” The postage stamp was announced by Ukraine’s first deputy foreign minister Emine Dzheppar, who said that the stamps were to commemorate the 13 border guards stationed at Snake Island. The postage stamp was created through a competition organized by the Ukrainian government, which was won by artist Boris Groh.
The stamp is largely seen to be a masterful public image campaign for Ukraine, and rallying increased morale for its citizens and Armed Forces, as well as gaining the support of the international arena.
However, there have been certain instances where their PR campaigns and propaganda campaigns have missed the mark. One was when the Ukrainian government posted a comparison of the number of missiles fired on Syria and Ukraine. The post was subsequently taken down due to backlash.
Similar POW exchanges were also seen last week as Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who was captured by Russian forces, was freed in exchange for 9 young Russian soldiers POWs who were born from 2002 to 2003, which indicated that these were conscripts who were forced to fight as they were literally just children.
With the sailors now freed, Zelensky can now award them the Hero of Ukraine award if he chooses to keep the promise he made when it was believed they were all dead.
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