Russian warship, go fuck yourself

"Russian warship, go fuck yourself"was the final communication made on 24 February, the first day of the 2022Snake Island campaign, by Ukrainian border guard Roman Hrybov to the Russian missile cruiserMoskva. The phrase was widely adopted as asloganduring theRussian invasion of Ukraine, as well as in pro-Ukrainian protests and demonstrations inthe West.Weeks later, the phrase was commemorated on a postage stamp byUkrposhta, the Ukrainian postal service.
The Ukrainian border guards were originally believed to have been all killed, but Hrybov was later confirmed by theUkrainian Navyto be "alive and well" and had surrendered to theRussian Navyin the attack. During Hrybov's captivity, his family applied for adefensive trademarkon 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, the Russian Navy's guided missile cruiser,Moskva, was critically damaged by an explosion caused by Ukrainiananti-ship missiles, andsank 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.
On 24 February 2022, the Russian flagshipcruiserMoskvaand patrol shipVasily Bykovbegan anassaultonSnake Island, a Ukrainian island located in theBlack Seanear theDanube Delta. It is a small island with asingle villagepopulated by fewer than 30 people, that had a contingent of 13border guards, all belonging to theIzmail Border Detachment,stationed on the island at the time of the attack.Moskvacalled 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 newspaperUkrainska Pravda.The exchange, which took place in Russian, has been translated as:
"Ukrainian 1" is believed to be Roman Hrybov (also transliteratedGribov),a member of theState Border Guard Service of Ukraine.The line has also been translated as "Fuck you, Russian warship."Author and academic Alex Abramovich, writing in theLondon Review of Books, noted that a more literal translation of "иди на хуй", transliterated as"Idi na khuy", is "Go to adick", or more idiomatically, "Go sit on a dick".
Subsequently, Snake Island was captured by the Russian naval forces, and Ukraine had initially thought and reported that the thirteen soldiers defending it were all killed in the Russian assault.Ukrainian presidentVolodymyr Zelenskyyannounced he would "posthumously" award the soldiers on Snake Island with the highest Ukrainian honour, theHero of Ukraine.Russia however denied those accounts and stated that all the soldiers were not dead, but had surrendered and been taken as prisoners.
On 28 February 2022, theUkrainian Navyannounced that all of the border guards were alive and detained by theRussian 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 nativeCherkasy Oblast, and was given a medal byGovernor of Cherkasy OblastIhor Taburetsfor his actions.
On 13 April 2022, Ukrainian presidential adviserOleksiy Arestovychand Odesa governorMaksym Marchenkosaid thatMoskvahad been hit by twoNeptune anti-ship missilesand was on fire in rough seas.A source atthe Pentagonin the US later confirmed thatMoskvahad 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 weregarrisonedon the island until late June 2022, when the Ukrainian militarysuccessfully retook the island.The island currently houses a small observationaldetachmentunder Ukrainian control.
Recordings of the exchange became widely circulated on the internet and wentviralon various social media platforms, and it has since become a rallying cry by both the Ukrainian military and civilians protesting the invasion.
US SenatorBen Sassementioned the phrase while speaking on theSenate flooron 28 February:
Andrew Keenwriting in theLiterary Hubnoted that as a result of the slogan, "Even thef-wordhad been weaponized" and that it was now a "popularinternet memeof resistance to the Russian invasion".The Washington Postsaid that "Ukraine is fighting back, one swear word at a time".
The Weekcompared the phrase to "Remember the Alamo" from the 19th-centuryTexas Revolution.TheSmall Wars Journallikened the phrase to other notable battle taunts such asMolon labe("come and take [them]"), from theBattle of Thermopylae, and "Nuts!", from theBattle of the Bulge, amongst other phrases.
The phrase also has been compared to another moment in Ukraine's history, the alleged 17th-centurycorrespondence between the Ottoman sultan and the Cossacks(popularised by the 19th-century painting byIlya RepinReply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks), when aSultan of the Ottoman Empire(usually identified asMehmed IV)demanded the surrender of either theChyhyrynCossacksor theZaporozhian Cossacks(who lived in modernCentral Ukraine), who allegedly refused and answered with a profanity-laden letter.
Two days after the initial utterance, theUkrainian Armed Forcesblew up arailway junctionconnecting Ukrainian and Russian railways to prevent theRussian armyfrom transporting military equipment and personnel into Ukraine by rail. When the Russian military asked Ukraine to restore the junction for humanitarian reasons, the Ukrainian dispatcher replied, "Russian train, go fuck yourself!".The following day, a Russian ship approached aGeorgianoil tanker to ask for fuel. The latter replied "Russian ship, go fuck yourself" (русский корабль, иди на хуй). When the Russians complained that they were almost out of fuel, they were told to use their oars.
On 24 February 2023, theLatvian MPRihards Kolsused the expression in a meeting at theOrganization for Security and Co-operation in EuropeinVienna, in protest at the presence of a Russian delegation.On 27 July, Georgian residents chanted the same expression to protest against the Astoria Grande cruise ship which arrived inBatumiwith Russian tourists.
In March 2022, Ukrainian band Botashe released a song titled "PNH" (Ukrainian:ПНХ), which predominantly features the phrase.On the 21st of that month, the RussianMinistry of Defenceposted an image on its officialTelegramchannel that read "Never anger a Russian warship" (Никогда не злите русский военный корабль), which provoked a thousand "Russian warship go fuck yourself" comments in three hours.Eight days later, theUkrainian Ministry of Defencereleased the "Ukrainian military Oscars" (in tandem with the94th Academy Awards) and gave the award for Best Picture to the sinking of theSaratovon 21 March, inBerdiansk, and to which it ascribed the mock-film title, "Russian Warship, Go F*** Yourself in Berdyansk".
On 1 March 2022,Ukrposhta, the Ukrainian postal service, launched a stamp design competition on the theme of the phrase.On 12 March 2022, the First Deputy Foreign MinisterEmine Dzhaparovaannounced that artist Borys Grokh's work won the popular vote of Ukrposhta for the sketch for the stamp.Fact-checking siteSnopessaid that Grokh had lived inYevpatoriain theCrimeaall his life and was studying to be an artist, but as a result of theRussian invasion of Crimeain 2014, he was forced to leave his home and had moved toKyivand later toLviv.Snopes quoted that Ukrposhta encouraged Ukrainians to send the stamp to their "friends abroad or send a fiery 'hello' to the Russians".Ukrposhta issued the set of commemorativepostage stampson 12 April.
The stamps feature a drawing of a Ukrainian soldier presentingthe middle fingerto the Russian cruiserMoskva.The overall layout with the ochre land underneath the blue sea mimics the colours of theFlag of Ukraine. The special postmark accompanying the stamp shows the outline of Snake Island. The stamp design is available in both a domestic and foreign version. PresidentZelenskyyhad his picture taken with the stamps and commented that Russian warships should only sail in one direction.
The design won theAssiago Awardfor the best designed postage stamp of 2022.
Roman Hrybov and the head of the Ukrainian Post Office, Ihor Smyljanskyj, signed the first special envelopes with the stamps at the Kyiv Main Post Office.The stamp proved popular in Ukraine with thousands queuing on its release in Kyiv. Over 1 million were scheduled for print, of which 700,000 were sold across Ukraine by 20 April.200,000 were reserved for sale in areas under Russian occupation includingCrimea, and 100,000 were reserved for sale online starting on 20 April.
On 21 April, the website of the Ukrainian post office went offline, and Director General Ihor Smilianskyi reported on Facebook that the site had been hit with a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.Although Smilianskyi did not name a perpetrator, various outlets speculated that Russia'sGRUwas likely responsible for the cyberattack, and that it had done so in retaliation for the sale of the stamps.
Sierra Leone also issued similar stamps on 23 June 2022.
On 17 March 2022,World Trademark Review(WTR) reported that lawyers for Hrybov, through his family and the Ukrainian military, had filed for anEU trademarkfor the slogan in bothCyrillic scriptand in English.The lawyers toldWTRthat it was needed to respond to hostile filings by clothing companies in the United States and in Lithuania who were also seeking to trademark the slogan.Techdirtcommented that it was a "depressing coda to an otherwise inspiring story", but that the fact that the slogan had reachedmemestatus from which others were profiting had likely changed the situation.