Ukraine Rolls Out ‘Titanic’-Themed Stamps Highlighting Crimean Bridge Bombing

Ukraine’s post office, Ukrposhta, has been documenting its conflict with Russia in unique ways. Previously, it issued stamps commemorating the moment soldiers told a Russian warship to “go f**k yourself.” With the bombing of the Crimean Bridge last week, the nation has released specialized stamps that interestingly mark the event with inside jokes and references to the Titanic. 
 
The postage, designed by Ukrainian artist Yuriy Shapoval, portrays a burning overpass in the background with the iconic white arches of the Crimean—or the Kerch Strait Bridge—appearing behind the smoke. In the forefront are the likenesses of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as their characters from the blockbuster, performing that famous pose on the edge of a bit of the structure that has been blasted off. 

Other stamps in the set also depict Winslet holding a cigarette, an inside joke among Ukrainians who blame the explosion on Russian soldiers smoking carelessly and throwing their cigarette butts on flammable items. Some also paint scenes of Russian soldiers dropping washing machines as they run away from Ukrainian houses they are looting. 

Russia first commissioned the dual rail-and-road structure in 2014 after it illegally annexed a part of Ukraine to Moscow. And as it happens, the Crimean Bridge is the only path that links Russia to Ukraine, and since the war started, it has been used as a primary source to infiltrate the country. 

The Titanic was used to annunciate the significance of the event by displaying just how vital the bridge’s destruction was compared to the “unsinkable” cruise ship. Ukrposhta’s general director, Igor Smelyansky, wrote on Telegram that the postage reflects the “Titanic efforts by our people and our armed forces.”
 
The stamps will be available from the first half of November and only seven million will be sent out for circulation. 
 
 
 
[via Dezeen and Bloomberg, images via Ukrposhta]