The guards were reportedly guarding Russia's Snake Island.
Thirteen guards on Snake Island on Ukraine’s southeastern border shared some last words as they were approached by two Russian warships on Thursday, according to Ukrainian media outlets. The Russian soldiers contacted the Ukrainian border guards asking them to surrender or they would open fire, according to an audio clip released by the Ukrainian government of the moment.
“This is a Russian warship, I repeat. I suggest you surrender your weapons and capitulate otherwise I will open fire. Do you copy?” the Russians told the border guards.
“This is it,” a Ukranian voice can be heard saying.
“Should I tell him to go f**k himself?” a Ukrainian guard can be heard saying to another guard.
“Just in case,” another guard responds.
Then the guard can be heard saying, “Russian warship, go f**k yourself.”
In the aftermath of the exchange, Russian soldiers reportedly fired on the island and then bombed it with a plane. Everyone on the island was killed, according to reports.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the guards would be honored posthumously for their heroism.
“On our Zmiinyi Island, defending it to the last, all the border guards died heroically,” Zelenskyy said. “But [they] did not give up.
“May the memory of those who gave their lives for Ukraine live forever,” he added.
The island is now believed to be occupied by Russian forces. The official Russian account of the exchange differs, however. Moscow says that the 82 Ukrainian soldiers on the island surrendered it to them voluntarily and made no mention of strikes or casualties, BBC reported.
Zelenskyy has said that at least 137 people were killed and 316 injured since Russia invaded the country Thursday, attacking key cities and taking control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
