New Ukrainian stamp tells a ‘Russian warship, go f— yourself’

Ukrainian officials have announced that the country’s state postal company would be printing a “Russian warship, go f— yourself” stamp.

According to the Washington Post, the stamp is meant to commemorate Snake Island border guards who supposedly used an expletive toward Russian forces while defending the area.

The audio of the incident became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance against the Russians as the war entered its third week.

In the clip, a soldier from a Russian military ship can be heard telling the Ukrainian guards to “lay down your arms immediately to avoid bloodshed and unjustified deaths”, warning “otherwise you will be bombed”.

After a brief discussion among themselves, the Ukrainian guards respond by saying: “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.”

Ukraine’s First Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzheppar shared a tweet about the stamp.

“The postage stamp named ‘Russian warship, go f**k yourself!’ will appear in [Ukraine]. The sketch by artist Boris Groh received the most votes and will soon be published by Ukraine’s state postal company. #StandWithUkraine #StopRussianAgression.”

The stamp, created by artist Boris Groh, appears to depict a Ukrainian soldier on an island holding a rifle in one hand and giving a Russian warship the middle finger.

Meanwhile, local officials on Sunday said that Russian airstrikes had killed 35 people at a military base outside Ukraine’s western city of Lviv.

The attack brings the Russian-Ukrainian conflict dangerously close to the Polish border.

AFP reported that another nine people were also killed in a strike on the southern city of Mykolaiv, while the capital Kyiv braced for possible encirclement by Russian forces.

For the first two weeks following its February 24 invasion, Russia’s forces had focused on eastern and southern areas of Ukraine, notably the strategic and heavily besieged port of Mariupol.

In a video address posted on social media late Saturday night, President Volodymyr Zelensky was adamant that the Russians would not take Ukraine.

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