The Russian warship “Moskva” aimed its guns at Ormön during the first day of the full-scale invasion.
The Russians called on the Ukrainians to surrender but received the famous response “Russian warships, go to hell”.
Now several of the island’s defenders who were captured by Russia have been released in a prisoner exchange.
The Ukrainian response to the Russian ship quickly became legendary and synonymous with Ukrainian resilience. Stamps were printed showing a soldier giving the finger to a Russian ship and the defenders of the Ormion were hailed all over Ukraine.
Despite their resistance, Russia eventually captured the small strategic island in the Black Sea and retained control of it for a few months, before choosing to leave in the summer.
Image of the attention-grabbing stamp
Image of the attention-grabbing stamp
“I’ll be home soon”
Several Ukrainian soldiers were captured by the Russians on the island. Initially, there were reports that several Ukrainians died when they refused to surrender, information that was later denied by Ukrainian authorities. Shortly after, among others, Roman Hrybov, who was the one who asked the Russian warship to “go to hell”, was released. reports The Guardian.
During Friday, 19 of those who defended the island were released along with several other prisoners in the first prisoner exchange in months.
“After a long break, another exchange of prisoners took place, 75 defenders and civilians were released from enemy captivity,” writes the Ukrainian committee responsible for the exchange of prisoners of war.
Dmytro Kantypenko was one of those captured by Russia and released on Friday. Once on Ukrainian soil in the Sumy region, he called his mother and was told that his wife had made it to safety in Latvia, Reuters reports.
– I’ll be home soon, mother, he said with tears in his eyes.
Over 3,000 prisoners have been released
In exchange, 75 Russian prisoners were released. The prisoner exchange brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates is the first to take place in four months and the 52nd since the start of the war.
– Their families have waited so long for them to come home, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj during his visit to Stockholm.
Since the full-scale invasion, 3,210 from the Ukrainian side have been released from Russian captivity. How many prisoners of war there are at the moment is unclear.
“Many Ukrainian defenders and Ukrainian civilians are still in enemy captivity. Despite all the difficulties and resistance of the enemy, the coordination headquarters does not stop making efforts so that all our people return home as soon as possible,” writes the Ukrainian committee responsible for the exchange of prisoners of war.