It was an incident that became an iconic symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the face of the Russian invasion of their country. On February 24, the first day of the full-scale war, a Russian naval ship warned Ukrainian soldiers guarding the strategic Snake Island to surrender or be killed. In response, one Ukrainian border officer famously replied, “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.”
The phrase soon went viral, printed on t-shirts, banners, road signs – and a Ukrainian postal stamp.
A fortnight after the incident, on March 12, the national Ukrposhta post office issued a stamp featuring an illustration by Crimean artist Borys Gorokh of a Ukrainian soldier standing in front of a warship brandishing his middle finger at it.
Designed in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, the stamp’s first print run of a million copies sold out at record speed. People queued for up to five hours to buy the stamp.
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