"Russian warship, go fuck yourself" (), or "Fuck you, Russian warship!," was the final communication made on 24 February, the first day of the 2022 Snake Island campaign, by Ukrainian border guard Roman Hrybov to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva. The phrase was widely adopted as a slogan during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as in pro-Ukrainian protests and demonstrations in the West. Weeks later, the phrase was commemorated on a postage stamp by Ukrposhta, the Ukrainian postal service.
The Ukrainian border guards were originally believed to have been all killed, but Hrybov was later confirmed by the Ukrainian Navy to be "alive and well" and had been captured by the Russian Navy in the attack. During Hrybov's captivity, his family applied for a defensive trademark on the slogan. On his release, Hrybov was awarded a medal for his actions at the end of March.
On 13 April 2022, one day after the first issue of the commemorative stamp, Moskva was critically damaged by an explosion caused by Ukrainian anti-ship missiles and sank the following day. Ukrposhta responded to this event by releasing an altered version of the postage stamp soon after, with the warship removed from the scene.
Background
Encounter
On 24 February 2022, the Russian flagship cruiser Moskva, and patrol boat Vasily Bykov, began an assault on Snake Island, a Ukrainian island located in the Black Sea near the Danube Delta. It is a small island with a single village populated by fewer than 30 people, that had a contingent of 13 border guards stationed on the island at the time of the attack. Moskva called on the soldiers to surrender in return for their safety, which was firmly declined by the defenders.
The audio of the interaction was originally posted by the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda. The exchange, which took place in Russian, has been translated as:
"Ukrainian 1" is believed to be Roman Hrybov (also transliterated Gribov), a member of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Author and academic Alex Abramovich, writing in the London Review of Books, noted that a more literal translation of "", transliterated as "Idi na khuy", is "Go to a dick", or more idiomatically, "Go sit on a dick".
Subsequently, Snake Island was captured by the Russian naval forces, but Ukraine had initially thought and reported that the thirteen soldiers defending it were all killed in the Russian assault. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced he would "posthumously" award the soldiers on Snake Island with the highest Ukrainian honour, the Hero of Ukraine. Russia however denied those accounts and stated that all the soldiers were not dead, but had surrendered and been taken as prisoners.
Aftermath
On 28 February 2022, the Ukrainian Navy announced that all of the border guards were alive and detained by the Russian Navy. On 24 March 2022, some of the Snake Island border guards, including Roman Hrybov, were returned to Ukraine in a prisoner exchange. On 29 March 2022, Hrybov returned to his native Cherkasy Oblast, and was given a medal by Governor of Cherkasy Oblast Ihor Taburets for his actions.
On 13 April 2022, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych and Odesa governor Maksym Marchenko said that Moskva had been hit by two Neptune anti-ship missiles and was on fire in rough seas. A source at the Pentagon in the US later confirmed that Moskva had been hit by Ukrainian missiles. Russian state-owned news agencies said the ship was badly damaged and its crew was evacuated due to a "fire" from "detonated ammunition." The ship sank while being towed to a naval base. Russian troops were garrisoned on the island until late June 2022, when the Ukrainian military successfully retook the island. The island currently houses a small observational detachment under Ukrainian control.
Reception
Recordings of the exchange became widely circulated on the internet and went viral on various social media platforms, and it has since become a rallying cry by both the Ukrainian military and civilians protesting the invasion.
US Senator Ben Sasse mentioned the phrase while speaking on the Senate floor on 28 February: "One Ukrainian after conversing with some of his colleagues a little bit on a recording that many of you may have now heard, decided to turn up the volume and he announced, 'Russian warship, '. [...] That is now the rallying cry of the Ukrainian resistance".