- Ukraine's postal service is releasing a commemorative "Russian warship, go f#ck yourself" stamp.
- The stamp will feature the censored phrase as well as the winning sketch from a competition.
- Citizens can vote on their favorite image for the final product to honor the men who defended Snake Island.
The Ukrainian postal service will release a stamp that says "Russian warship, go f#ck yourself" to commemorate the soldiers who reportedly cursed out Russian forces attacking Snake Island during the early days of the Russian invasion.
Ukraine's Ukrposhta wrote on Facebook that they will be holding a vote to choose one of 20 finalist designs sent in which feature the phrase, which has become a rallying cry for Ukrainian troops and citizens defending their homeland.
The postal service said it "did not expect that there would be so many people willing to take part in the competition and that it would go beyond Ukraine."
"With this stamp, you can send letters and postcards even abroad. And most importantly, they will have a sewn-in message that you already know well: "Russian warship, go f#ck yourself!" the Ukrposhta wrote.
Many of the finalist stamps prominently feature the phrase as well as depictions of the destruction of a Russian ship; one shows the warship cracking in half while another features it being smashed by a giant fist.
Some of the finalists also feature the shape of Snake Island. One of the choices shows a Ukrainian soldier flipping off a Russian warship in the distance.
The stamps reference the purported words of Ukrainian defenders during a back-and-forth with a Russian warship at the start of Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
In the video, the voice of someone on a Russian vessel radios the island's 13 defenders and tells them to surrender. One of the troops responds on the radio: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."
According to Ukrainian authorities, Russian forces then bombarded the small island. The troops were presumed dead after Ukraine lost contact and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the defenders as heroes.
But the Ukrainian Navy now says the soldiers are alive and were captured after repelling multiple Russian assaults and running out of ammunition, Insider's Erin Snodgrass reported.
On Tuesday, military sources told The Times that one of the Russian ships involved in the assault was destroyed by Ukrainian forces.
Voting for the stamps will take place on the Facebook page and will close on March 10. The winning stamp will be announced the following day.
Translations by Oleksandr Vynogradov.