The Ukrainian postal service, Ukrposhta, announced that they’d honour the 13 heroes of Snake Island who told a Russian warship to “go f**k” itself, with a stamp. A competition was announced, with a March 4 submission deadline, and amateurs and experts handed in their designs. The Ukrposhta posted the top 20 shortlists on their Facebook page, but one has been selected as the winner, by public voting. 

It shows a defiant soldier on the shore flipping off the finger to the Russian warship. The Ukrposhta noted that they hadn’t anticipated the massive response to this competition and didn’t realize it would go beyond Ukraine

While they couldn’t post all 496 submissions, the postal service noted they’d be included in their database and used for other postal issues of patriotic topics. 

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The message from the Snake Island heroes will be sewn into the stamp for the entire world to see. This competition actually marks 30 years of the Ukrposhta, but they decided to switch out the regular stamp competition with one honouring the heroes of Ukraine, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send troops into the country in an attempt to “denazify” and “demilitarize” it. 

The Snake Island incident took place towards the beginning of the invasion when a Russian warship in the Black Sea told them to surrender. However, they opted to show defiance. While initially, it seemed the 13 had been killed, news later resurfaced that they’d been taken as prisoners

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Snake Island, which currently remains in Ukraine’s control, is miles off the coast of Romania. It is a strategic strongpoint since controlling the island essentially gives command over shipping channels to port cities of Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kherson, of which Kherson is already under Russian occupation. 

If Russia has Snake Island, Ukraine’s shipping channels can be cut off, isolating the nation from international markets and depriving it of vital trade revenues, impacting the economy, as Ukraine fends off Russian attacks.