Thirteen Ukrainian border guard soldiers were brutally killed when Russian warships, the missile cruiser RTS Moskva (121), and patrol ship Vasily Bykov bombarded the tiny island they defended that held merely a garrison, a radio tower, a 150-year-old lighthouse, and the vacant settlement of Bile. Before they were ruthlessly killed by the Russian warships they posed absolutely no threat to, they uttered a response to demands for their surrender that will echo through history as one of the most tragic and brave moments of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
The Defiant Courage Of Heroic Ukrainian Soldiers
The final defiant stand took place at the small garrison on Zmiinyi or ‘Snake’ Island in The Black Sea a 42-acre islet about 9.2 miles off of the Ukrainian Coast near the maritime border with Romania with little strategic value other than providing an Economic Exclusion Zone or EEZ to Ukraine in the Black Sea.
In the radio exchange shared on Twitter, a Russian officer likely aboard Moskva says:
“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 Ukranian soldiers can be heard conversing with one another with the main speaker asking “should I tell him?” and a second replying “Just in case”
Turning up the volume on the dial, the Ukrainian soldier in an act of courageous defiance replied:
“Russian warship, go fuck yourself.”
In the moments prior to the bombardment of the island, one of the Ukrainian soldiers posted to Telegram channel Хуевая Одесса that boasts “News of Odessa and the region Bright content 24/7 No censorship, a lot of trash” the final moments of the garrison in two videos. In the first Moskva can clearly be seen and heard addressing the defenders on the radio.
After an initial bombardment, the unidentified soldier is heard to say he thought the warship “was trying to scare us” to another who added “nothing was destroyed” just before they were killed by incoming fire.
The very last video communication from the island came from the same soldier who was livestreaming as Moskva opened fire.
This is one of the Ukrainian soldiers who died defending the island known as Snake Island.
They live-streamed the moment the Russian warship opened fire:pic.twitter.com/nhedom6QbU
— Leah McElrath 🏳️🌈 (@leahmcelrath) February 25, 2022
The fallen thirteen soldiers were honored by Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenskyy along with the 124 other reported casualties on the first day of the invasion during an address to the nation,
“On our Zmiinyi Island, defending it to the last, all the border guards died heroically,” he continued. “But did not give up. All of them will be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine. May the memory of those who gave their lives for Ukraine live forever.”
