The Ukraine president announced that the 13 soldiers guarding Snake Island in the Black Sea would be honoured for their bravery as they refused to lay down their arms
Snake Island, in the Black Sea, where there are conflicting reports over whether the servicemen are alive. Image credit: Ukraine MoD
Ukrainian soldiers who died defending an island in the Black Sea from advancing Russian troops had a defiant message for their aggressors. When asked to surrender, they told an officer on board a Russian warship to “go fk yourself”.
An audio clip of the incident has surfaced on social media during the Russian invasion. It carries a warning from a Russian warship to Ukrainian soldiers defending the Snake Island in the Black Sea.
“This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and unnecessary victims. Otherwise you will be bombed,” the transcript of the audio exchange read.
“This is a Russian warship, I repeat. I suggest you surrender your weapons and capitulate otherwise I will open fire. Do you copy?” the Russian side warned again.
To this, one of the Ukrainian soldiers said, “This is it,” and asked his fellow soldier, “Should I tell him to go fk himself?”
“Russian warship, go fk yourself,” said the soldier, in response to the Russian warnings.
Here’s the video:
There were 13 border guards stationed on Snake Island, a roughly 16-hectare (40-acre) rocky island owned by Ukraine that sits about 186 miles (300km) west of Crimea, when Russian troops bombed the island on Thursday.
All 13 soldiers died after refusing to surrender, Ukrainian officials announced.
In his address after the first day of the invasion of his country, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced he would posthumously award all of the soldiers the Hero of Ukraine award.
“All border guards died heroically but did not give up,” Zelenskyy said.
“May the memory of those who gave their lives for Ukraine live forever,” he said in a video message released on Facebook after midnight.
The Snake Island is strategically located on the southeast border of Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia on Thursday. It was approached by two naval vessels, according to reports in Ukrainian media.
Known as Zmiyiniy Ostriv in Ukrainian, the island is seen as key to Ukraine’s maritime territorial claims and the defense of shipping routes to the Ukrainian port cities of Odessa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson, according to the Atlantic Council, a US think tank.
Another video from the incident, which is doing the rounds on social media, shows two soldiers on the same Snake Island live-streaming it. These soldiers can be seen outdoors and wearing military helmets.
Soon a gunshot is heard, and one of the soldiers is heard yelling. The video ended abruptly.
On Friday, Russia’s defence ministry said 82 Ukrainian soldiers on the island had surrendered to them voluntarily. It made no mention of carrying out strikes or inflicting casualties.
With inputs from agencies
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