Ukraine soldiers told Russian officer ‘go f**k yourself’ before they died on island

Thirteen border guards died in air and sea bombardment on Snake Island in Black Sea after refusing to surrender

Snake Island, known as Zmiinyi Island in Ukrainian, is situated near the Ukrainian and Romanian coasts along the Black Sea. Picture: Andrey Nekrasov/Alamy/The Guardian

Ukrainian soldiers who died defending an island in the Black Sea from an air and sea bombardment reportedly told an officer on board a Russian navy warship to “go fuck yourself” when asked to surrender.

There were 13 border guards stationed on Snake Island, a roughly 16-hectare (40-acre) rocky island owned by Ukraine that sits about 186 miles (300km) west of Crimea, when Russian troops bombed the island on Thursday.