Ihor Smilianskyi, CEO of Ukraine Post, holds the new postage stamp immortalizing the famous exchange on Snake Island between Russian and Ukrainian forces April 14 at the Post’s headquarters in Kyiv, Ukraine. (REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko)
The sinking of the Russian guided missile cruiser Moskva in the Black Sea comes days after Ukraine issued a postage stamp commemorating the famous exchange between Russian and Ukrainian forces at Snake Island.
An aide to Ukraine’s president confirmed Thursday that the Moskva was one of the ships involved in February’s exchange.
The island was hit by Russian missile attacks after Ukrainian defenders responded to the threat of a Russian invasion by saying, “Russian warship, fuck off.”
The stamp: Ukrposhta, Ukraine’s postal service, announced on Tuesday that it had issued a postage stamp bearing the slogan. It shows a defiantly standing Ukrainian soldier confronting a Russian warship in open water.
Roman Hrybov – the Ukrainian soldier who uttered the phrase – has been invited to the ceremony where the stamp was unveiled, the service said in a statement.
Some context: The Ukrainian soldiers were initially thought to have been killed in a subsequent attack, but were forced to surrender “due to a lack of ammunition,” according to the Ukrainian Navy. Hrybov was later released as part of a prisoner exchange.
The phrase has become a popular Ukrainian slogan during the invasion and is used as a symbol of defiance.
“Without him there would be neither a postage stamp nor such strong resistance as exemplified by the soldiers of Zmiinyi (Snake Island) Island,” the statement said.
The Warship: Conflicting reports have surfaced about the sinking of the warship, reported by Russia’s state news agency TASS on Thursday.
Ukraine’s Operations Command South claimed Thursday that the Moskva began to sink after being hit by Neptune anti-ship missiles.
Russia claimed a fire broke out, exploding ammunition on board, severely damaging the ship and forcing the evacuation of the crew.
CNN was unable to independently verify what caused the damage to the ship.
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