Several Ukrainian soldiers were killed when threatened by a Russian ship on Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea. They refused to surrender, receiving honors from the Ukrainian president who promised them a posthumous medal.
Until the end, they defended their country. Thirteen Ukrainian soldiers were killed overnight from Thursday to Friday during the Russian offensive led by President Vladimir Putin. They were on Serpents’ Island in the Black Sea when an enemy ship called on them to surrender. A video of this exchange was posted on the Internet. We can hear the Russian troops threatening the Ukrainian side if they do not agree to capitulate: “It’s the Russian warship. I suggest you lay down your arms and capitulate lest the blood of unnecessary victims be shed. Otherwise, you will be under the bombs”. To which the Ukrainian soldiers replied: “Russian ship, fuck you”, before being killed. This recording was broadcast on Ukrainian media Pravda and Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, and later shared on CNN.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that these soldiers were among the 137 soldiers and civilians who have died since the start of the Russian invasion a few hours earlier. He called these soldiers “heroes” for not having “capitulated”. Faced with their act of bravery, he promised to give them a medal of honor posthumously. “May the memory of those who gave their lives in Ukraine remain forever,” he said. His own life is itself in danger. He claimed to have become “the enemy’s number one target” and his family “the number two target”. If he evacuated his relatives, he chose for the moment to stay in Kiev, while the Russian vice is tightening on the capital.
“The war is total”
According to military sources quoted by AFP, Vladimir Putin would aim to bring down the president and put a pro-Russian government at the head of the country. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian explained on Friday that “the war is total” and that “President Zelensky’s security is a central element of what is happening”. “We are able to help him if necessary,” he added.
To have : War in Ukraine: in pictures, Kiev, in the dark and under the bombs
Serpents’ Island lies about 48 kilometers off the southern tip of the Ukrainian mainland in the northwest Black Sea. It is about 300 kilometers west of Crimea, Ukrainian territory annexed by Russia in 2014.
Any reproduction prohibited