Joe Kinsey
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The 19 Ukrainian soldiers who were thought to be dead after coming under fire from the Russians after telling a Russian warship to “go f–k yourself” are not only alive, but they’ve now been freed in a prisoner swap, according to the Ukrainian government.
The sailors were set free Thursday in the prisoner swap, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk, who noted that 11 Russian sailors who were rescued from a sunken ship near the port city of Odessa were handed over as part of the exchange.
“As a result of this exchange, 19 Ukrainian civilian sailors are returning home from the rescue ship Sapphire, which was captured by the occupiers while trying to take our troops from the island of Snake,” Vereschuk said.
Presumed dead, the Ukrainian sailors survived the Russian warship attack and were taken captive after running out of ammunition.
According to media reports, a civilian ship sent to the island to recover the dead or wounded was that was captured has also been released by the Russians and it will be sent back to Turkey.
And there you have it, the Snake Island ordeal is over — until Hollywood gets its hands on the movie rights.
UPDATE: Ukraine's Navy now says the border guards at Snake Island who refused to surrender to a Russian warship are alive and in Russian captivity.
President Zelenskyy had previously claimed that the Ukrainian soldiers had been killed. pic.twitter.com/F0zWRBAYQ6
— DW News (@dwnews) February 28, 2022
Everything coming out of Ukraine is as true as the story about them dying.
I personally take reports of anything about Ukrainian and Russian in media reports with a grain of salt. Both countries use a little tool called “propaganda” to sway public perception of the outcome of the war, so relying on either to know what’s actually going on aren’t what I’d call reliable primary sources. There aren’t many unbiased sources of info unfortunately. The way DC and media talk about this conflict is sadly dripping with virtue signaling political opportunism while people get slaughtered. My BS detector has be pinging constantly hearing most reporting on it, because it’s not reporting, it’s repeating talking points handed to them by the governments. No one pushes back or asks basic direct questions about “why” to these officials making decisions affecting world history. Why? That puts us all in danger.