The Ukrainian Postal Service has unveiled a new stamp to commemorate the defiant moment when a group of border guards stood in opposition to Russian soldiers.
Ukrposhta launched a competition to honour the Snake Island heroes who famously replied to enemy soldiers in the Black Sea with: “Russian warship, go f**k yourself!”
Audio of the incident quickly went viral last month and has since become a rallying cry for Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion.
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The competition to design the stamp was launched earlier this month with more than 500 designs submitted to Ukrposhta.
The public then was asked to vote for their favourite out of a top 20 shortlist.
The winning design was from artist Boris Groh and shows one of the 13 Ukrainian guards standing on Snake Island facing the warship, rifle in one hand and a defiant middle finger directed towards the ship in the distance.
On Facebook the postal service wrote: “With this stamp, you can send letters and postcards even abroad.”
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They added: “And most importantly, they will have a sewn-in message that you already know well: Russian warship, go f**k yourself.”
Many of the top 20 submissions followed in a similar vein, with the boldness and braveness of the guards highlighted throughout. However, it was Groh’s stamp that was the clear winner with 1,700 votes out of 8,000 according to Business Insider.
When audio of their 'last moment' was leaked online, the Ukrainian guards were presumed dead after officials lost contact with the troops.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his website of the soldiers: “On our Zmiinyi Island, defending it to the last, all the board guards died heroically.
“But they did not give up. All of them will be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. “
However, the Ukrainian Navy revealed the soldiers are alive and were captured after repelling the Russian assault and running out of ammunition.
The postal stamp serves as a symbol of the solidarity Ukraine has shown over the past few weeks since the invasion of its sovereign neighbour.
Stewart Perrie