Ukraine Issued ‘Go Fuck Yourself’ Stamps. Prices Are Skyrocketing on eBay

When the Russian warship Moskva told the Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island to surrender, the soldiers told the ship to go fuck itself. Two months later, the border guards are still alive, the Moskva is at the bottom of the Black Sea, and the moment of resistance has been turned into a painting that has become a popular meme. It’s even become a stamp that’s selling for outrageous prices on secondary markets like eBay.

 “Russian warship, go fuck yourself,” turned into a popular phrase moments after the Ukrainian Roman Hrybov transmitted it to the Moskva. On March 1, the Ukrainian postal service announced a competition to design a stamp based on the phrase. Boris Groh’s painting of a Ukrainian soldier flipping the bird to a distant Moskva won after being put to a vote on Instagram and Facebook.

The Ukrainian post office turned the painting into a stamp and issued the first run of them on April 13. The next day, the Moskva sank after being struck by a Neptune anti-ship missile fired by Ukraine.

The stamp is now a collector’s item. The Ukrainian postal service issued 1 million of these stamps and is selling 700,000 of them in Ukraine. People are limited to purchasing 16 copies and are lining up around the block and waiting in hours-long lines to purchase their set. “This phrase—the answer of Ukrainian border guards, defenders of Snake Island, to the Russian ship on the offer to surrender on the day of the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine on February 24 has become a symbol of courage and indomitable spirit of the Ukrainian people in the fight against Russia,” a press release about the stamp said.

Of the remaining 300,000 stamps in circulation, 200,000 are being held back for sale in territories currently controlled by Russia. The remaining 100,000 were sold online and they’ve already become collector’s items. Ukraine is selling the stamps for their face value—about $1 a piece. Some eBay listings for an individual stamp are as high as $30, with sets going for as much as $400. 

Supplies of the stamp are limited, but the Ukrainian post office is also selling mugs and T-Shirts bearing Groh’s painting. Igor Smelyansky, the Ukrainian post service’s director general, told the New York Times he was happy to be trolling Russia with the power of stamps. “As the postal service we are always happy when the addressee gets the message,” he said.