Image Credit: Russian Defence MinistryTASS via Getty Images 
The group of Ukrainian border guards who told the Russian military to ‘go f*** yourself’ over the radio as they defended a small island in the Black Sea, and were thought to have been killed, may now actually be alive and being held as prisoners of war.
The guards defending Zmiinyi (Snake) Island, a strategically-significant speck of land south of the port of Odessa, had originally thought to have been killed but to have gone down in a blaze of linguistic glory during Thursday’s attacks.
But pictures released by the Russian Defense Ministry claim the Ukrainian servicemen are in fact still alive after ‘voluntarily’ surrendering their garrison to Russian troops.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defence is CONFIRMING that the garrison of Snake Island is ALIVE and has surrendered to Russian troops https://t.co/87XRyByCmV pic.twitter.com/AjIYJ37Cz6
— Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) February 26, 2022
Almost a dozen photos released by Russia purportedly show the men boarding buses, being given bottled water and a food parcel, before being shown sitting in their seats.
Russia have even said that men will be released an be allowed to return to their families.
The authenticity of the information is still uncertain given that just a day earlier, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had promised to posthumously decorate ‘the heroic deceased border guards.’
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky related a story Thursday, claiming that 13 Ukrainian soldiers stationed on the remote island of Zmiinyi in the Black Sea were slaughtered after defiantly telling Russians on board a warship to “go f*** yourself” following a demand to lay down weapons and surrender.