Ukrainian slogan popularized during 2022 Russian invasion
"Russian warship, go fuck yourself",[a] 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.[3] Weeks later, the phrase was commemorated
on a postage stamp by
Ukrposhta, the Ukrainian postal service.[4]
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 surrendered to the
Russian Navy in the attack. During Hrybov's captivity, his family applied for a
defensive trademark on the slogan.[5][6] On his release, Hrybov was awarded a medal for his actions at the end of March.[7]
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 Ukrainian
anti-ship missiles, and
sank the following day.[8][9] Ukrposhta responded to this event by releasing an altered version of the postage stamp soon after, with the warship removed from the scene.[10]
Background
Encounter
On 24 February 2022, the Russian flagship
cruiserMoskva,[11] 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.[12][13]
The audio of the interaction was originally posted by the Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda.[14] The exchange, which took place in Russian, has been translated as:[15]
Russian warship: "Snake Island, I, Russian warship, repeat the offer: put down your arms and surrender, or you will be bombed. Have you understood me? Do you copy?"
Ukrainian 1 to Ukrainian 2: "That's it, then. Or, do we need to fuck them back off?"
Ukrainian 2 to Ukrainian 1: "Might as well."
Ukrainian 1: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."
"Ukrainian 1" is believed to be Roman Hrybov (also transliterated Gribov),[16] a member of the
State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.[17] The line has also been translated as "Fuck you, Russian warship."[18] Author and academic Alex Abramovich, writing in the London Review of Books, noted that a more literal translation of "
иди на хуй", transliterated as "Idi na khuy", is "Go to a
dick", or more idiomatically, "Go sit on a dick".[15][19]
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 Zelenskyy announced he would "posthumously" award the soldiers on Snake Island with the highest Ukrainian honour, the
Hero of Ukraine.[20][21] Russia however denied those accounts and stated that all the soldiers were not dead, but had surrendered and been taken as prisoners.[22]
Aftermath
On 28 February 2022, the
Ukrainian Navy announced that all of the border guards were alive and detained by the
Russian Navy.[23][24] On 24 March 2022, some of the Snake Island border guards, including Roman Hrybov, were returned to Ukraine in a prisoner exchange.[25] On 29 March 2022, Hrybov returned to his native
Cherkasy Oblast, and was given a medal by
Governor of Cherkasy OblastIhor Taburets for his actions.[7][26][27]
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.[28] A source at
the Pentagon in the US later confirmed that Moskva had been hit by Ukrainian missiles.[29] Russian state-owned news agencies said the ship was badly damaged and its crew was evacuated due to a "fire" from "detonated ammunition."[30] The ship sank while being towed to a naval base.[31] Russian troops were
garrisoned on the island until late June 2022, when the Ukrainian military
successfully retook the island.[32] The island currently houses a small observational
detachment under Ukrainian control.[33]
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.[34]
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, idi nakhuy'. [...] That is now the rallying cry of the Ukrainian resistance".[35]
Andrew Keen writing in the Literary Hub noted that as a result of the slogan, "Even the
f-word had been weaponized" and that it was now a "popular
internet meme of resistance to the Russian invasion".[3]The Washington Post said that "Ukraine is fighting back, one swear word at a time".[36]
On 21 March 2022, the Russian
Ministry of Defence posted an image on its official
Telegram channel that reads "Never anger a Russian warship". (Никогда не злите русский военный корабль)[37]
On 26 February 2022, the
Ukrainian Armed Forces blew up a
railway junction connecting Ukrainian and Russian railways to prevent the
Russian army from 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!".[46]
On 27 February 2022, a Russian ship approached a
Georgian oil 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.[47][48]
On 7 March 2022, the Russian ship Vasily Bykov, which previously attacked Snake Island and was approaching
Odesa, was allegedly hit by Ukrainian defence forces. They then celebrated, saying "We fucking hit them!" and "Russian ship, go fuck yourself."[49]
On 27 July 2023, Georgian residents chanted the same expression to protest against the Astoria Grande cruise ship which arrived in
Batumi with Russian tourists.[52]
In multi-media
In March 2022, Ukrainian band Botashe released a song titled "PNH" (
Ukrainian: ПНХ), which predominantly features the phrase.[53]
On 29 March 2022, the
Ukrainian Ministry of Defence released the "Ukrainian military Oscars" (in tandem with the
94th Academy Awards) and gave the award for Best Picture to the sinking of the Saratov on 21 March, in
Berdiansk, and to which it ascribed the mock-film title, "Russian Warship, Go F*** Yourself in Berdyansk".[54]
Commemorative stamps
Design
On 1 March 2022,
Ukrposhta, the Ukrainian postal service, launched a stamp design competition on the theme of the phrase.[55][56] On 12 March 2022, the First Deputy Foreign Minister
Emine Dzhaparova announced that artist Borys Grokh's work won the popular vote of Ukrposhta for the sketch for the stamp.[4][57] Fact-checking site
Snopes said that Grokh had lived in
Yevpatoria in the
Crimea all his life and was studying to be an artist, but as a result of the
Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, he was forced to leave his home and had moved to
Kyiv and later to
Lviv.[58] Snopes quoted that Ukrposhta encouraged Ukrainians to send the stamp to their "friends abroad or send a fiery "hello" to the Russians".[58] Ukrposhta issued the set of commemorative
postage stamps on 12 April.[59][60]
The stamps feature a drawing of a Ukrainian soldier presenting
the middle finger to the Russian cruiser
Moskva.[61] The overall layout with the ochre land underneath the blue sea mimics the colours of the
Flag 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. President
Zelenskyy had his picture taken with the stamps and commented that Russian warships should only sail in one direction.[62]
The design won the
Assiago Award (known as the Oscar of the Philatelic World) for the best designed postage stamp of 2022.[63]
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.[59][67] 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.[68] 200,000 were reserved for sale in areas under Russian occupation including
Crimea, and 100,000 were reserved for sale online starting on 20 April.[69]
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.[70] Although Smilianskyi did not name a perpetrator, various outlets speculated that Russia's
GRU was likely responsible for the cyberattack, and that it had done so in retaliation for the sale of the stamps.[71][72]
Sierra Leone also issued similar stamps on 23 June 2022.[73][74]
Trademarking
On 17 March 2022, World Trademark Review (WTR) reported that lawyers for Hrybov, through his family and the Ukrainian military, had filed for an
EU trademark for the slogan in both
Cyrillic script and in English.[5] The lawyers told WTR that 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.[5]Techdirt commented that it was a "depressing coda to an otherwise inspiring story", but that the fact that the slogan had reached
meme status from which others were profiting had likely changed the situation.[16]
Gallery
Phrase on signs in demonstration in
Helsinki, Finland (26 February 2022).
^Balmforth, Tom (25 February 2022). Trevelyan, Mark; Jones, Gareth (eds.).
"'Russian warship, go fuck yourself': Kyiv to honour troops killed on island". Reuters.
Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 28 February 2022. Texas has "Remember the Alamo!" Ukraine now has "Russian warship, go f—k yourself!" — or "Go f—k yourself!" for short. Those were the final words a group of thirteen Ukrainian border guards relayed to a Russian battleship that had ordered them to surrender. The guards were stationed on Zmiinyi Island (Snake Island), a strategically important rock in the Black Sea.
^Harding, Luke; Beaumont, Peter; Sauer, Pjotr; Elgot, Jessica; Borger, Julian (14 April 2022).
"Russian warship Moskva on fire but afloat, Pentagon says". The Guardian. Archived from
the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2022. The Moskva gained notoriety early in the war when the crew demanded the surrender of Ukrainian forces on Snake Island, prompting a riposte from border guards on the island: 'Fuck you, Russian warship.'
^Стосовно дій РФ біля острову Зміїний [Regarding the actions of the Russian Federation near Snake Island].
Ukrainian Navy. 28 February 2022.
Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022 – via Facebook. Щодо морських піхотинців та прикордордонників, яких взяли в полон російські окупанти на острові Зміїний. Ми дуже раді дізнатися про те, що наші побратими живі і з ними все добре! [As for the Marines and frontier guards captured by the Russian occupiers on Snake Island. We are very happy to learn that our brothers are alive and well!][self-published source?]