A mere squad of Ukrainian Border Troops were stationed on the strategically important Zmiinyi (translated as “Snake” or “Serpent”) Island, roughly 20 miles off the Ukrainian coast.
The same 13 were all killed defending their .079 square mile rocky speck of an island in the Black Sea.
As seen in the videos below, when a Russian navy mini-task force consisting of the Guided Missile Cruiser Moskva and the Patrol Boat Vasily Bykov ordered the small Ukrainian contingent to either “lay down your weapons” and surrender or face certain death, the radioed response from the Border Guards was brief, but to the point.
As noted by Britain’s The Guardian, the radio conversation went like this (emphasis mine);
“This is a military warship. This is a Russian military warship. I suggest you lay down your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and needless casualties. Otherwise, you will be bombed,” the Russian office was recorded as saying on a naval radio channel.
After a short period of silence in the recording, a Ukrainian officer reportedly responded: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.”
Of the 13 troops stationed on Zmiinyi Island, Ukrainian diplomat Olexander Scherba sent out a tweet (below) verifying that 11 of the 13 Border Guards were women.
Fox News is also reporting that all 13 have posthumously been awarded the Hero of Ukraine medals, the Ukrainian version of the American Medal of Honor or the British Victoria Cross.
This meme has been doing the rounds. It says “go fuck yourself”. The defiant last words of 13 Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island in the Black Sea, after they were given an ultimatum by a Russian warship to surrender or die. pic.twitter.com/Hjik712JgF
— Aubrey Belford (@AubreyBelford) February 25, 2022
Zelensky: today we lost 137 military and civilians, including 10 officers. All defenders of the Snake island are dead.
There have been reports about 11 female soldiers who died after Putin’s missile hit their barracks. #StandWithUkraine— olexander scherba🇺🇦 (@olex_scherba) February 24, 2022