Ukraine’s ‘Go F**k Yourself’ Stamps Are Being Sold For Thousands Online
Photo 245815787 © Tiantan | Dreamstime.com
In the past few months of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has made several pleas for assistance and support. But nothing has been quite as resonant as the battle cry that soldiers made when Russian troops arrived at Snake Island, pressuring them to surrender.
Just three words—“go f**k yourself”—got the world listening.
That moment has since been memorialized on an official Ukrainian stamp. The image, depicting a border guard showing the finger to a warship, is now a coveted collectible not just in Ukraine but worldwide too.
When the Ukrainian Postal Service (Ukrposhta) released the first stamps on April 13, locals lined up in swarms outside post offices to get their hands on this piece of history. Meanwhile, resellers have put them up on online marketplaces like eBay, hoping to make a quick buck from the art.
The illustration is the winning design of a postage stamp design contest that Ukrposhta recently launched. It was created by artist Borys Grokh, who was moved by the border guards’ bravery and channeled it into his work. The postal office turned the drawing into stamps, along with merchandise like T-shirts, mugs, and envelopes.
The post office issued a million of the stamps, with 700,000 of them in circulation in Ukraine. Of the other 300,000, 200,000 are reserved for territories dominated by Russia. This leaves only 100,000 for the rest of the world, and the scarcity shows.
On eBay, the stamps are being listed for as much as US$2,000—a significant jump from the amount they’re going for back at home. The postal office sells them for their face value, which is about US$1 apiece.
“I am sure that Ukrainians and our friends from abroad will be pleased to receive letters with such a postage stamp,” said Igor Smelyansky, the postal office’s general director, at a ceremony last week, as quoted by NPR.
“And today in this postal way we once again remind the invaders that they should immediately get off our land and follow their ship.”
[via Motherboard and NPR, cover photo 245815787 © Tiantan | Dreamstime.com]
