The Snake Island soldiers who reportedly told a Russian warship to "go f--- yourself" were captured alive by Russia after initial reports indicated the service members died in the attack, the Ukrainian Navy confirmed Monday.
All of the soldiers on the tiny island in the Black Sea were thought to have been killed in an attack on the first day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last Thursday.
According to a purported audio exchange, one of the Ukrainian troops had responded to a warning from an approaching Russian vessel to lay down their weapons or face bombing by saying, "Russian warship, go f*** yourself."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said later on Thursday that 13 soldiers on Snake Island all died "heroically" by Russian bombardment. But -- after the Ukrainian border guard said that it had information disputing the deaths -- a statement on Monday from the country's navy suggested this was certainly not the case.
The men had initially been reported dead last week, but Ukrainian authorities now say they were "captured by the Russian occupiers".
"We are very happy to learn that our brothers are alive and well," the Ukrainian Navy said on its official Facebook page.
"The Marines and frontier guards [were] captured by the Russian occupiers on Snake Island."
Chaotic information surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to confusing and contradictory accounts.
Russia had denied allegations that the 13 Ukrainian soldiers were killed by air and sea strikes. Russian state TV later showed what it claimed was footage of the soldiers alive in custody, but the footage could not be independently verified.
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGSU) had also u-turned and suggested that the 13 border guards may still be alive.
Kyiv said that the island's communications and infrastructure had been "completely destroyed" by Russian "occupiers," making it harder to find out what had happened to the soldiers.
Ukraine's Navy says that a humanitarian mission that had been sent to Snake Island after the soldiers reported deaths has also been captured.
"The illegal seizure of a non-combatant civilian ship that did not carry out any military tasks is a violation of the rules and customs of war and international humanitarian law," the Navy said.
"We demand from the Russian Federation immediate release of illegally captured citizens of Ukraine."
