{"id":1345185,"date":"2022-02-26T09:53:13","date_gmt":"2022-02-26T14:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1345185"},"modified":"2022-02-26T09:53:26","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T14:53:26","slug":"13-ukrainian-soldiers-make-defiant-last-stand-all-killed-protecting-tiny-snake-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/13-ukrainian-soldiers-make-defiant-last-stand-all-killed-protecting-tiny-snake-island\/","title":{"rendered":"13 Ukrainian Soldiers Make Defiant Last Stand, All Killed Protecting Tiny Snake Island"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F13-ukrainian-soldiers-make-defiant-last-stand-all-killed-protecting-tiny-snake-island%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1345185&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1238563598-640x335-1.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Ukraine will posthumously declare 13 soldiers Heroes of Ukraine, the nation\u2019s highest honor, after making a defiant stand on Thursday and losing their lives defending the strategically important Snake Island from a Russian warship.<\/p>\n<p>On the first day of fighting amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin\u2019s Russia, 13 Ukrainian border guards died after being shelled by a Russian warship as they attempted to defend the island in the Black Sea. President\u00a0Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that all 13 border guards lost their lives defending the island after the Russian warship fired upon them.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cDefending it to the last, all the border guards died heroically. But did not give up. All of them will be awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine posthumously. Eternal memory to those who gave their lives for Ukraine,\u201d\u00a0Zelensky said.<\/p>\n<p>Despite their efforts, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DPSUkraine\/posts\/283860847186126\">reported<\/a> on Facebook that the Russians have seized control of the territory.<\/p>\n<p>Ukrainian and other international outlets have spread unverified <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/Pravda_Gerashchenko\/270\">audio<\/a>, first published by\u00a0Ukrainian newspaper\u00a0<em>Ukrayinska Pravda<\/em> and allegedly verified by\u00a0Interior Ministry advisor Anton Gerashchenko, that appears to capture the last moments of the Snake Island troops.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI am a Russian warship. I offer to lay down our arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed and unjustified casualties. Otherwise, you will be bombed,\u201d the Russian warship reportedly said twice in the audio.<\/p>\n<p>The radio operator then allegedly replied:\u00a0\u201cRussian warship, go fuck yourself!\u201d.<\/p>\n[embedded content]\n<p>Snake Island, also known as Zmiinyi, is located around 30 miles (48 kilometres) off the coast of Ukraine. According to the Atlantic Council, having control of the island allows Ukraine to claim territorial waters 12 nautical miles from all directions of the island, thereby extending protection for major shipping routes in the Black Sea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis Black Sea access is crucial to Ukraine\u2019s grain and metals exports, as well as consumer goods imports from China. Without a viable shipping lane to global markets, the Ukrainian economy would rapidly plunge into crisis,\u201d the think tank <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/blogs\/ukrainealert\/could-snake-island-be-the-next-hot-spot-in-vladimir-putins-ukraine-war\/\">wrote<\/a> in August of last year.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Addressing the strategic importance, Zelensky said in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pravda.com.ua\/rus\/articles\/2021\/08\/19\/7304294\/\">interview<\/a> on the island last year: \u201cWe know about Russia\u2019s interests [in the Black Sea]. We see what plans they have for the joint Russian-Belarusian exercises in September 2021. We are ready for the various steps they might take.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He went on to proclaim that Ukraine will defend the island \u201cwith weapons in hand!\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u2018Missiles Helpless Against Our Freedom\u2019 \u2014 Zelensky Says Defenders of Ukraine Will Protect Country \u2018Alone\u2019<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uCsOXh16LE\">https:\/\/t.co\/uCsOXh16LE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartLondon\/status\/1497165995651313683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 25, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The soldiers who lost their lives on Snake Island came amid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2022\/02\/25\/zelensky-ukraine-not-tired-missiles-are-helpless-against-our-freedom\/\">137 deaths<\/a> on the Ukrainian side of the fighting, with another 316 wounded or injured on Thursday, according to Zelensky. Despite the heavy losses, the Ukrainians have touted that they successfully pushed back against the invasion by Russia, claiming over 1,000 Russian soldiers killed. Russia has not made specific casualty claims in return, but a spokesman discussing the battle to claim Antonov airport asserted \u201cThere is no loss in the Russian Armed Forces\u201d on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>In a national address delivered on Friday morning, President Zelensky <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2022\/02\/25\/zelensky-ukraine-not-tired-missiles-are-helpless-against-our-freedom\/\">said<\/a> that \u201cthe enemy was stopped in most directions\u201d on the first day of fighting.<\/p>\n<p>Lashing out against the Russian Federation after Putin\u2019s decision to launch an invasion past the disputed Donbas regions, Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN, Sergiy Kyslytsya <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2022\/02\/24\/ukraine-tells-russia-to-go-straight-to-hell-at-russia-led-u-n-meeting-on-russian-invasion-of-ukraine\/\">said<\/a>: \u201cThere is no purgatory for war criminals, they go straight to Hell.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KurtZindulka\">@KurtZindulka<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ukraine will posthumously declare 13 soldiers Heroes of Ukraine, the nation\u2019s highest honor, after making a defiant stand on Thursday and losing their lives defending the strategically important Snake Island<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1345185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1345185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1345185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1345185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1345185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}