“Russian warship, go fuck yourself!”
Ukraine introduced the design for a new postage stamp that memorializes a now-famous battle cry rallying the country in its fight against the Russian invasion…
The stamp — called “Russian warship, go f*** yourself!” — references an interaction on Snake Island.
According to an interpreter for NPR, the artist of the winning design, Borys Grokh, told Ukrposhta he was so impressed by the soldiers’ refusal to surrender that he decided to submit an illustration to lift morale…
The soldiers had been stationed on the island, which is in the Black Sea south of Ukraine’s mainland, and used the choice words when Russian naval forces told them to surrender.
The article says the translation isn’t exact…because the phrase “Русский военный корабль, иди на#уй!” just doesn’t translate accurately into English.
Eideard 
“The Allied cause is completely bound up with the rights and welfare of the common man. You must make certain that every GI realizes that the privileged life he has led is under direct threat. His right to speak his own mind, to engage in any profession of his own choosing, to belong to any religious denomination, to live in any locality where he can support himself and his family, and to be sure of fair treatment when he might be accused of any crime—all of these would disappear if the Nazis win this war.” General Eisenhower, in a letter to a friend on the eve of the American invasion of North Africa in 1942.
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 10th
“The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion otherwise the garrison are to be put to the sword if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender nor retreat.”
― William Travis, at the Alamo
Damage to Snake Island, where Ukrainian troops defiantly rejected surrender, seen in satellite photo https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/13/europe/snake-island-satellite-photos-intl-hnk/index.html
Though it is only about 46 acres (18 hectares) in size, a report last year from the non-partisan Atlantic Council think tank called it “key to Ukraine’s maritime territorial claims” in the Black Sea. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/could-snake-island-be-the-next-hot-spot-in-vladimir-putins-ukraine-war/
Re: the attack and background see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Snake_Island
“Nuts!” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_McAuliffe#%22NUTS!%22
(BBC 4/14/22): Russia’s flagship Black Sea missile cruiser has been “seriously damaged” and its crew forced to evacuate, Russian state media says.
The defense ministry said ammunition on the Moskva exploded in an unexplained fire, but that the 186-metre (610 foot) vessel was still afloat.
Ukraine claims it struck the vessel with its Neptune missiles.
The 510-crew warship has led Russia’s naval assault on Ukraine, making it an important symbolic and military target.
Earlier in the conflict the Moskva gained notoriety after calling on Ukrainian border troops defending Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender – to which they memorably radioed a message of refusal which loosely translates as “go to hell”. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61103927
[The BBC has not been able to verify either claim].
“Russia says flagship missile cruiser has sunk after explosion off coast of Ukraine” (Washington Post 4/14/22 @ 5:26 p.m. EDT) https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/14/ukraine-russian-missile-cruiser-moskva-warship/
Russia’s defense ministry offered few other details about the missile cruiser, known as the Moskva. Earlier that day, the hobbled warship was was moving under its own power, heading to the Crimean port city of Sevastopol for repairs as sailors battled a fire onboard, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.
The explosion occurred Wednesday, when the ship was roughly 75 miles from Odessa, a seaside hub in Ukraine’s south, a senior U.S. defense official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon.
After the explosion, several other Russian warships in the northern part of the Black Sea repositioned farther away from shore, the U.S. official said.
The news agency RIA Novosti reported this on Telegram, according to Ukrinform.
“The Russian Defense Ministry reports that during the towing of the cruiser Moskva to the port of destination, the ship lost its stability due to hull damage received during a fire from the detonation of ammunition. In the conditions of stormy seas, the ship sank,” the statement said. https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3457932-russia-confirms-its-black-sea-fleet-flagship-has-sunk.html
● SEVASTOPL, February 26, 2020. “A Christian relic, a piece of the True Cross on which the believers say Jesus Christ was crucified would be kept at the Moskva missile cruiser, the Black Sea fleet flagship, archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Sevastopol District Sergiy Khalyuta told TASS [Russian news agency]. https://tass.com/society/1123855 See also “Priests of the UOC-MP [Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate] bless Russian weapons in Crimea “for these are weapons of Truth” (6/21/20) https://risu.ua/en/priests-of-the-uoc-mp-bless-russian-weapons-in-crimea-for-these-are-weapons-of-truth_n109398/amp
● “Russia’s Most Powerful Warship In The Black Sea Is Operating In A Pattern” (April 7, 2022) https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2022/04/russias-most-powerful-warship-in-the-black-sea-is-operating-in-a-pattern/
● “Air Cover Might Have Saved Russian Cruiser ‘Moskva’” (Forbes April 15, 2022) https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/04/15/air-cover-might-have-saved-russias-cruiser-moskva/?sh=468295c76de1
‘Red Dawn’ Becomes Bizarre Reality in Ukraine with ‘Wolverines’ Graffiti
The tag is showing up on destroyed Russian vehicles across Ukraine and no one knows who is doing it or why. https://www.vice.com/en/article/88gpm3/red-dawn-becomes-bizarre-reality-in-ukraine-with-wolverines-graffiti
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 27th
The Tractor Has Become a Symbol of Ukrainian Resistance
A Ukrainian tractor hauling away Russian armor is a powerful symbol and a propaganda victory. https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7n5ed/the-tractor-has-become-a-symbol-of-ukrainian-resistance
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 17th
Ukraine’s rail chief reveals how EU leaders got in and out of Kyiv in 24 hours https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/16/europe/ukraine-railways-eu-kyiv-intl/index.html
New Video Game Lets You Drive Ukraine’s Fearsome Tractors
A symbol of Ukrainian resistance is now a bona fide video game star. https://www.vice.com/en/article/akvm3e/new-video-game-lets-you-drive-ukraines-fearsome-tractors
Russian security services on Monday have been accused of staging a Ukrainian assassination attempt by releasing photos of confiscated copies of “The Sims” video games that some speculate were mistaken by Kremlin officers for SIM cards. https://nypost.com/2022/04/25/russia-appears-to-confuse-the-sims-for-sim-cards-in-possible-staged-assassination-attempt/
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said that 11 Ukrainian servicemen captured by Russian invaders on Zmiinyi Island could be exchanged for 11 Russian sailors. https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3438192-vereshchuk-says-ukrainian-sailors-from-zmiinyi-island-could-be-swapped-for-russians.html
“There are sailors here. By the way, we saved 11 [Russian] sailors and we are ready to give them away. We don’t need them, let them give us our people,” Vereshchuk said.
According to Vereshchuk, “They [the Russians] expressed their desire to take away their sailors, who, by the way, we rescued – they were drowning in the Black Sea. And I hope that we will take [Ukrainian sailors] soon. But the fact is that there are not only sailors but, as it turned out, 92 people, if I’m not mistaken, whom they captured,” Vereshchuk said when asked about Ukrainian sailors.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said on February 24 that 13 Ukrainian border guards probably died on Zmiinyi Island.
“Today, by order of President Zelensky, the first full-fledged exchange of prisoners of war took place. Ten our servicemen were released in exchange for 10 captured occupiers,” Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, posted on Telegram.
According to Vereshchuk, 11 Russian civilian sailors rescued from a sunken ship near Odesa were also transferred to Russia today.
As a result of this exchange, 19 Ukrainian civilian sailors from the Sapphire rescue ship, captured by Russian invaders while trying to take the Ukrainian military from Zmiinyi (Snake) Island, return home.
Under the exchange terms, the rescue ship will also be returned to Ukraine and sent to a port in Turkey. https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3438787-vereshchuk-first-fullfledged-prisoner-swap-with-russia-held.html
“A deputy commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet was killed in combat in the besieged port city of Mariupol during what Moscow calls its military operation in Ukraine, officials said Sunday.
“Captain 1st Rank Andrei Nikolayevich Paly was killed in the fighting to liberate Mariupol from Ukrainian Nazis,” the governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhayev said on Telegram.” (2/20/22) https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2022/03/21/Officials-confirm-death-of-senior-Russian-naval-officer-in-Mariupol-
(March 24, 2022): “Ukrainian armed forces said they destroyed a large Russian landing ship at the port of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine on Thursday.
The port, which had recently been occupied by Russian forces with several Russian warships in dock, was rocked by a series of heavy explosions soon after dawn.” https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/24/europe/ukraine-russian-warship-berdyansk-intl/index.html
Reportedly Ukrainian troops have killed the commander of the 49th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District of Russia, Lieutenant General Yakov Vladimirovich Rezantsev https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/tnehhp/update_as_a_result_of_ukrainian_strike_on_the/
Why Russian generals keep getting killed in Ukraine : The Russians have lost more general officers than any other military in decades. https://taskandpurpose.com/analysis/russian-military-generals-killed-ukraine/
Ukraine’s Air Defense Becomes Its Surprising Trump Card Against Russia : The combination of Soviet-era long-range anti-air systems, U.S. Stinger missiles and clever tactics confound Russia’s air force https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraines-air-defense-becomes-its-surprising-trump-card-against-russia-11647970237
U.S. Sending Soviet Air Defense Systems It Secretly Acquired to Ukraine
The Pentagon over the years has acquired Soviet equipment as part of a clandestine program, and now such weapons are going to Ukraine https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-sending-soviet-air-defense-systems-it-secretly-acquired-to-ukraine-11647878422?mod=politics_featst
Ukraine Issued ‘Go Fuck Yourself’ Stamps. Prices Are Skyrocketing on eBay https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjb9y7/ukraine-issued-go-fuck-yourself-stamps-prices-are-skyrocketing-on-ebay
The stamp is now a collector’s item. The Ukrainian postal service issued 1 million of these stamps and is selling 700,000 of them in Ukraine. People are limited to purchasing 16 copies and are lining up around the block and waiting in hours-long lines to purchase their set.
Of the remaining 300,000 stamps in circulation, 200,000 are being held back for sale in territories currently controlled by Russia. The remaining 100,000 were sold online and they’ve already become collector’s items. Ukraine is selling the stamps for their face value—about $1 a piece. Some eBay listings for an individual stamp are as high as $30, with sets going for as much as $400.
Igor Smelyansky, the Ukrainian post service’s director general, told the New York Times he was happy to be trolling Russia with the power of stamps. “As the postal service we are always happy when the addressee gets the message,” he said.
Har!
7AM MDT, tomorrow morning, 22nd
Ukrainian forces mount Snake Island counterattack against Russia https://nypost.com/2022/06/22/ukraine-mounts-snake-island-counterattack-against-russia/
Ukraine’s southern operational command said late Tuesday that it had counterattacked Russians on the Black Sea island, also known as Zmiinyi Island, using “various forces” that “inflicted significant losses” on Kremlin troops positioned there, the Ukrainian outlet Ukrinform reported. https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3512459-operation-targeting-snake-island-continues-russian-sam-pantsir-may-be-destroyed.html
Russian troops have left their positions on a captured Ukrainian island, defense officials said Thursday, a major setback to Moscow’s invasion that weakens its blockade of Ukraine’s ports. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russia-snake-island-early-symbol-ukrainian-defiance/
“…The Ukraine war is at a strategic turning point. As the Russian offensive intensifies in the Donbas without resulting in any substantial gains, western leaders warn that the war will be long, and supporting Ukraine must be sustained in the long term. At the same time, a less perceptible change is happening. The war at sea is intensifying.
From the blockade in the Black Sea, to growing tensions in the Baltic Sea, Ukraine’s assertiveness in destroying Russian naval assets and the role played by civilian shipping sector in sanctioning Russia, the war’s maritime aspects are now emerging and are likely to be more influential in the outcome of the conflict. Consequently, Russia, which is a continental power, is now more likely to be strategically defeated.” https://gcaptain.com/the-ukraine-war-the-longer-the-war-the-more-likely-it-is-to-be-won-by-a-sea-power/
Snake Island: Why Russia couldn’t hold on to strategic Black Sea outcrop (BBC) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61992491
The Battle for the Black Sea : Russia and Ukraine are vying to control vital grain routes, but who will win and what will it mean for the world’s food supply? (June 28, 2022) https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/6/28/how-russia-and-ukraine-are-vying-to-control-vital-grain-routes