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Description

This artwork related to the current events is symbolic and should not be taken literally. The events that unfolded on Snake Island have been misrepresented during first days of the war and the scene shown in this artwork might be exaggerated. The artwork’s sole purpose is the acknowledgement and celebration of the heroism of ordinary Ukrainian people, be it soldiers, territorial defense, or simple civilians, who did not give up when faced by the unprecedented attack of a much stronger opponent. These brave souls who did not succumb to the rule of the tyrant, but instead rose up and have been using every last bit of courage, ingenuity and blood to defend their country, their loved ones, their home. No matter what you think about the political situation surrounding current events, these people are the biggest heroes of this war. And we must not turn our back on them and forget their sacrifice.

The story that inspired this drawing: Snake Island is a small piece of land near the Romanian border with Ukraine. Several Ukrainian border guard members were situated on the island when the Russian invasion started. On 24 February, two Russian warships (a missile cruiser Moskva and a patrol corvette Vasiliy Bykov) ambushed the border guard unit and offered them the option to surrender. Allegedly, the border guard responded with now famous words “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!” (spoken in Russian as Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!), which can be heard from the audio recording of the conversation that was later made public. What happened next is a matter of debate. Initial reports stated the border guard members were killed – this may be a deliberate misinformation created by Ukraine to turn these men into martyrs. Later, new information surfaced suggesting that the border guard unit surrendered, and the members are now Russian prisoners of war. Either way, the words “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!” have become a notorious phrase and one of the symbols of anti-war movement. The phrase and its derivatives have been used on several later occasions, such as on 27 February 2022, when a Russian ship approached a Georgian oil tanker asking for fuel. The latter replied "Russian ship, go fuck yourself" (русский корабль, иди нахуй). When the Russians complained that they were almost out of fuel, they were told to use their oars.

This drawing is heavily inspired by a post stamp design by Boris Groh , which won the competition announced by the Ukrainian post to create a post stamp commemorating the events that unfolded on Snake Island. Therefore, I want to credit Boris Groh as the original author of the central motive.

If you want to see more artwork related to these events, visit #SupportUkraine . If you want to donate to help the Ukrainian defenders, a good place to do that is koloua.com . It is a charity fond that supplies the Ukrainian soldiers with the equipment they need and that is mostly overlooked by other donation services. It also uses the maximum amount of money directly for the material it is donating, unlike some other donation services, which use a significant portion of the donations for other purposes, such as paying their own employees. If you want to find out more about them, check out their LinkedIn profile or their Instagram .

Description

This artwork related to the current events is symbolic and should not be taken literally. The events that unfolded on Snake Island have been misrepresented during first days of the war and the scene shown in this artwork might be exaggerated. The artwork’s sole purpose is the acknowledgement and celebration of the heroism of ordinary Ukrainian people, be it soldiers, territorial defense, or simple civilians, who did not give up when faced by the unprecedented attack of a much stronger opponent. These brave souls who did not succumb to the rule of the tyrant, but instead rose up and have been using every last bit of courage, ingenuity and blood to defend their country, their loved ones, their home. No matter what you think about the political situation surrounding current events, these people are the biggest heroes of this war. And we must not turn our back on them and forget their sacrifice.

The story that inspired this drawing: Snake Island is a small piece of land near the Romanian border with Ukraine. Several Ukrainian border guard members were situated on the island when the Russian invasion started. On 24 February, two Russian warships (a missile cruiser Moskva and a patrol corvette Vasiliy Bykov) ambushed the border guard unit and offered them the option to surrender. Allegedly, the border guard responded with now famous words “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!” (spoken in Russian as Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!), which can be heard from the audio recording of the conversation that was later made public. What happened next is a matter of debate. Initial reports stated the border guard members were killed – this may be a deliberate misinformation created by Ukraine to turn these men into martyrs. Later, new information surfaced suggesting that the border guard unit surrendered, and the members are now Russian prisoners of war. Either way, the words “Russian warship, go fuck yourself!” have become a notorious phrase and one of the symbols of anti-war movement. The phrase and its derivatives have been used on several later occasions, such as on 27 February 2022, when a Russian ship approached a Georgian oil tanker asking for fuel. The latter replied "Russian ship, go fuck yourself" (русский корабль, иди нахуй). When the Russians complained that they were almost out of fuel, they were told to use their oars.

This drawing is heavily inspired by a post stamp design by Boris Groh , which won the competition announced by the Ukrainian post to create a post stamp commemorating the events that unfolded on Snake Island. Therefore, I want to credit Boris Groh as the original author of the central motive.

If you want to see more artwork related to these events, visit #SupportUkraine . If you want to donate to help the Ukrainian defenders, a good place to do that is koloua.com . It is a charity fond that supplies the Ukrainian soldiers with the equipment they need and that is mostly overlooked by other donation services. It also uses the maximum amount of money directly for the material it is donating, unlike some other donation services, which use a significant portion of the donations for other purposes, such as paying their own employees. If you want to find out more about them, check out their LinkedIn profile or their Instagram .