Thirteen Ukraine border guards on Snake Island who told a Russian warship 'go f*** yourself' when asked to surrender may be alive.
It was thought the troops on the tiny Black Sea island had been killed by Russian shelling, with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky saying they'd all posthumously be recognised as heroes.
But now it has emerged that they may have survived.
In a clip which quickly went viral, a Russian voice warns the border guards that they will be attacked if they do not give up.
“I am a Russian warship,” a voice says. “I ask you to lay down your arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed and unnecessary deaths. Otherwise, you will be bombed.”
The Ukrainians responded: "Russian warship... go f*** yourself."
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The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said in a statement posted to their Facebook page the guards may be alive.
Shortly after the attack Russian media reported they were taken as prisoners from their base on Snake Island in the Black Sea to Sevastopol, a Crimean port city.
Ukrainian officials said in the Facebook post the border guards were attacked by Russian aircraft and weapons from the ship, and that they then lost communication with them.
It now appears it was assumed that the guards were killed.
On Friday, Russia's defense ministry said 82 Ukrainian soldiers on the island had surrendered to them voluntarily. It made no mention of carrying out strikes or inflicting casualties.
Russian Major-General Igor Konashenkov stated how the servicemen on the island 'laid down their arms and voluntarily surrendered to a unit of the Russian Armed Forces.'
Overnight in Ukraine night has seen major blasts at oil and gas facilities in Kyiv region and other locations, and a claim of a Russian strike on a radioactive dump in the capital.
There were reportedly strikes on an oil terminal in the Luhansk People’s Republic at Rovenky, a coal mining city.
An LPR source said: “It could have possibly been a missile attack, our emergency services have left to the site.”
The source of the alleged attack in the LPR was unclear.
In Kyiv, Ukrainian sources claimed a Russian shell strike hit radioactive dump.
“The occupiers fired on a radioactive object in Kyiv,” said a report. “They hit the radioactive burial site…
“Although the radiation monitoring system failed, surveillance cameras recorded the shelling.”
A preliminary assessment indicated “no threat to people outside the sanitary protection zone”.
Russian defence sources claimed they had agreed with Ukrainian forces a pact to guarantee safety at Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Radiation levels are described as normal.
