Horrifying footage shows a defiant soldier’s last words before being he and his comrades were killed by a Russian warship.
A new video shows a Kremlin warship warning Ukrainian border guards on the strategic Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender or be bombed.
An officer on the warship delivered an ultimatum saying: "I am a Russian military ship. I repeat, I am a Russian military ship.
"I am proposing you put down your arms immediately to avoid bloodshed and unjustified deaths int he worse case you will be hit with a bomb strike."
They then repeated the message, demanding acknowledgement.
Click here to follow our live blog with the latest updates
![](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article26326883.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_PAY-Snake-Island-last-video-3-east2west-news.jpg)
![](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article26326884.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_PAY-Snake-Island-last-video-2-east2west-news.jpg)
When given the ultimatum from a Moscow warship demanding surrender, the border guards defiant response came by radio, they said: “F*** it as well. Russian warship go f*** yourself!”
Ukraine said that the men were killed in the gunfire however Russia claimed today that the men, and others on the island, are all alive and unharmed.
"All border guards died heroically but did not give up. They will be awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine posthumously," Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Snake Island sits about 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the southern tip of the Ukrainian mainland in the northwestern Black Sea. It's about 185 miles (300 kilometers) west of Crimea, the Ukrainian territory that Russia annexed in 2014.
![](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article26326897.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/1_PAY-Snake-Island-last-video-5-east2west-news.jpg)
Russia has consistently attempted to play down or minimise the full-scale invasion and denied targeting civilians in their bombing campaign in Kyiv, despite significant evidence otherwise.
A statement from the Russian defence ministry, known for sewing disinformation, said: "In the area of the Zmeiny (Snake) Island, 82 Ukrainian servicemen laid down their arms and voluntarily surrendered to a unit of the Russian Armed Forces.
“At present, they are being asked to sign a refusal to take part in hostilities.
“In the near future they will be returned to their families”.
Ukraine officials say that 13 men were all slaughtered in a hail of missile fire.
![](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article26326905.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_PAY-Snake-Island-east2west-news.jpg)
In the moments before the attack, the border guards said: “They struck there and also there [with their missiles], '' says one.
He asks: “They try to scare us, or what…?
“So far nothing is destroyed.
“Cannot understand what they’re doing, most likely trying to scare us.
"They strike the rocks.”
![](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article26326933.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_PAY-Snake-Island-last-video-1-east2west-news.jpg)
Soon afterwards the men were reportedly killed in a huge strike from the warship, but Russia maintain they are alive and kept as prisoners.
This comes during the second day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as it is confirmed Russian forces have reached towns only 15 miles outside of Kyiv.
As Moscow’s forces continue their push towards Kyiv it is unsure what Putin’s plans are, whether they intend to turn Ukraine into a vassal state, or not.
![](https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article26326962.ece/ALTERNATES/s810/0_PAY-Russia-Attacks-Ukraine.jpg)
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and the Ukraine Ministry of Defence both said that despite all of this, the invasion failed to achieve its day one objectives.
On top of that, Russia has suffered at least 450 casualties so far in the conflict.