The Ukrainian Postal services have confirmed finalizing the release of a vile postage stamp in defiance of the Russian invasion. On Saturday, Emine Dzheppar, the country’s First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, shared a photo of the stamp which had “Russian warship, go F*** yourself” written on it. Meanwhile, the sketch, created by Boris Groh shows a lone Ukrainian soldier standing in front of a gigantic Russian ship. As per the ministry, the stamp will soon be released by Ukrposhta (Ukraine’s National Post)
Previously, Ukrainian authorities created a public poll to choose the stamp. “Everyone promised to vote but (we) did not expect that there would be many people willing to take part in the contest,” they wrote in a Facebook post. Announcing the results, Dzheppar wrote, “the sketch of the artist Boris Groh received the most votes of the respondents and will soon be published by Ukrposhta.”
The battle to guard Kyiv’s sovereignty has now entered the third week with both sides pulling every stop to win. Over two million people have left the country while over 549 Ukrainian citizens have lost their lives, according to official UN estimates released on Thursday. However, it said that the actual death toll is believed to be higher than this. Meanwhile, American officials estimated that nearly 6,000 Russian troops may have died in the battle. While Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is continuing to galvanise support from the West, recent satellite images showed that the 40-mile long Russian convoy, which was heading towards Kyiv, had been redeployed. However, experts opine that it would take not more than a week or two for Moscow to take over Kyiv if they continued their invasion.
Russia-Ukraine war enters Day 17
In the latest update on the intensified war, four Russian choppers were seen in the Chernihiv region hit by Ukrainian anti-aircraft gunners. According to media reports, air raids are presently going off in western Ukraine including Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Lviv and the north-eastern Sumy region.
In another significant development, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed sanctions with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko and according to Russian state media RT, both leaders look ahead with ‘optimism’.