The defiant five-word reply the ship received has since become a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance
The Russian warship that was told to "Go f--k yourself" appears to have done so.
The Valisy Bykov, one of two battleships that opened fire on the small Ukrainian outpost on Snake Island in the Black Sea at the beginning of the invasion, has been destroyed, according to reports.
Ukrainian military sources told The Times of London the patrol corvette had been hit with a missile in the early hours of Monday morning, fired by naval forces defending the seaport city of Odessa, where the country has been bracing itself for an inevitable Russian landing.
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View Story"Ship was destroyed, it is confirmed," the source told the paper.
The Ukrainian military posted footage of the firefight on Facebook, although the post did not identify the ship.
"Today, March 7, 2022, units of the Marines of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine defending the Odessa region hit an enemy ship," the caption read. "The enemy retreated again."
In the video, two men can be heard trying to figure out if they'd hit the mark:
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"We f--king hit them!" one exclaims, while the other, echoing the now infamous words of his Snake Island comrades, declares: "Russian warship, go f--k yourself."
On February 24, the very first day of Vladimir Putin's offensive, the Valisy Bykov trained its cannons on Snake Island, and demanded the tiny band of 13 soldiers lay down their arms and surrender; the defiant five-word reply the ship received has since become a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance.
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View StoryThe Russian Navy attacked from sea and air, destroying the outpost, and captured the island. Ukrainian command lost all contact with the defenders, and all 13 were presumed dead. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would later posthumously award them the Hero of Ukraine, the country's highest honor.
Russian state media subsequently claimed it had captured 82 troops alive on the island, all of whom had voluntarily surrendered.
This prompted the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine — while obviously wary of Russian propaganda — to then issue a statement declaring some of this may be in fact true, and that the soldiers had been taken alive to Sevastopol, in the Russian annexed peninsula of Crimea.