Russian Warship Ukrainians Told to ‘Go F*ck Yourself’ Sinks After Explosion

Photo of Russian cruiser Moskva by Russian Ministry of Defence via Wikipedia Commons.

Was it an amazing show of prowess from the Ukrainian military or the latest example of Russian ineptitude? Either way, the Russian ship Moskva found itself sinking to the bottom of the sea — or “promoted to submarine,” as one popular Twitter meme put it.

The resolute response of “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself!” (“Русский военный корабль, иди на хуй!” in Russian; “Російський військовий корабель, іди на хуй!” in Ukrainian) from a small group of Ukrainian soldiers defending Snake Island to the Russian sailors on the Moskva during the early days of Russia’s invasion went viral. It’s been a rallying cry for the Ukrainian military and has been printed on t-shirts and other merchandise sold to support various humanitarian causes supporting the war’s refugees.

The Moskva was — it seems fair to refer to it in the past tense given its current state — the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. On Thursday, multiple news agencies confirmed an explosion on board the ship, distress signals were sent out, and the crew evacuated. Smoke could be seen coming from the ship on satellite images. Early reports that the Moskva had sunk were inaccurate, but the ship had listed onto one side and was still smoldering Thursday afternoon.

The Russians were in the process of attempting to tow the damaged ship to a port in Sevastopol for repairs, but it sunk en route. This news was confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry. “The cruiser Moskva sank while being towed in a storm, the Russian Defense Ministry said,” tweeted an official Russian state agency account.

Russia has claimed that the ship’s troubles were caused by ammunition on board that caught fire, an assertion that was, interestingly enough, met with both skepticism considering the Kremlin’s track record of aggressively absurd propaganda claims throughout this war, and also a number of observers who commented the Russians’ claim was actually plausible considering past struggles the Russians had encountered as they attempted to invade Ukraine, including neglectful maintenance of vehicle tires and unwise exposure to radiation at Chernobyl. (That last incident was such a glaring example of Russian foolishness that the Ukrainian nuclear agency declared the soldiers who stole dangerously radioactive souvenirs to be “Darwin Award winners.”)

For their part, the Ukrainian government officials have insisted that the ship’s damage was caused by two Neptune missiles, a Ukrainian-designed anti-ship cruise missile system that first came into service for the Ukrainian Navy in 2021.

The loss of the Moskva is a major blow to Russia’s ability to not just attack Ukraine, but to defend other ships in their fleet. Forbes’ David Axe has followed the saga of the Moskva since the explosion was first reported, and he wrote that the Ukrainian defenses, which included “mines, anti-tank missiles, long-range ballistic missiles and armed drones” were enough to “make any amphibious operation against a Ukrainian port extremely risky for the attackers.”

The Moskva, Axe continued, was a “veritable floating missile-battery,” and absolutely critical to the defense of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. “With her, the fleet still is vulnerable. Without her, it would be even more exposed to missiles, rockets and drones,” he wrote.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described the Moskva’s troubles as “a big blow to Russia,” according to CNN. The Kremlin had been forced to admit their flagship had been catastrophically damaged, “and they’ve had to kind of choose between two stories,” said Sullivan. “One story is that it was just incompetence, and the other is that they came under attack. And neither is a particularly good outcome for them.”

In yet another odd twist in this war that’s being waged with a secondary battleground on social media, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had announced on Instagram the release of the official Ukrainian postage stamp commemorating the Snake Island soldiers’ famous epithet at the Moskva just one day before the ship would meet its fate.

In the post’s caption, Zelensky wrote (according to Google Translate) that the phrase, “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself” had become “a symbol of the steadfastness of Ukrainian defenders.”

The postage stamps were now available, and he encouraged people to use them “and remember that the ‘Russian warship’ always has only one direction.”

Twitter users found a lot of humor in the Moskva’s fate.

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UPDATE 1:50 pm ET April 15, 2022: U.S. officials have confirmed that two Ukrainian Neptune missiles hit the Moskva, CNN reported on Friday.

This post has been updated with additional information.