The language of the sea has always been salty, especially in times of crisis. It should therefore be no surprise that a particularly coarse phrase has come to epitomize Ukraine's defiance against the Russian occupying forces. On 24 February 2022,the first day of the invasion, two Russian warships approached Snake Island, a small island in the Black Sea. This island holds symbolic as well as strategic importance as in August 2021, as Russian forces were amassing on the Ukrainian border, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a press conference there in which he said, 'This island, like the rest of our territory, is Ukrainian land, and we will defend it with all our might'.
展开▼
