Zmiinyi (Snake) Island is located 30 miles south of Ukraine’s mainland in the Black Sea
BREAKING:
It’s official – 🇺🇦 Snake Island sailors are alive, Navy confirms.
They were taken prisoner by Russia.— Illia Ponomarenko (@IAPonomarenko) February 28, 2022
This afternoon.
On Friday, a Ukrainian official said all 13 guards stationed at Snake Island had been killed by Russian forces.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised to decorate the guards.
He said:
“On our Zmiinyi Island, defending it to the last, all the border guards died heroically.
“But they did not give up. All of them will be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.”
Friday: Snake Island: Ukraine says soldiers killed after refusing to surrender (BBC)
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Oh dear, they’ll have to rescind those martyrs medals now. Don’t worry, another old picture of a bloodied and bandaged civilian from years ago in an unrelated matter should keep the plebs distracted. Can even throw in some flight simulator footage and pretend it’s an amazing Ukrainian pilot downing Russian jets. The level of BS emanating from the Western media is astounding though completely blatant and obvious. Russia haven’t even hit Ukraines electricity or water supplies, the evil bas%%%s…
Whatever goes on in you head, pleae keep it there and try not to dribble on yourself.
Have you never heard ‘the first casualty of war is truth’ …
fyi, truth doesn’t ‘dribble’.
Ah right, you’re one of the gullible goosies who believed the martyrdom “Russian warship, go f yourself” comedy gold, eh? Have you changed your Facebook profile to the Ukrainian flag for 10 extra virtue signaling points yet? You should totally jump on the next flight eastbound to join the new International Brigades. Go fight Russia yourself.
Local man won’t change avatar to Ukrainian flag colours in case someone thinks he’s a Roscommon GAA fan.
Hehehehehehe
Roscommon is blue and yellow, not yellow and blue
E’Matty have the Russian Armed forces invaded sovereign Ukraine
yes or no?
Yes they have, though the extent of the fighting is highly disputable. Where’s all the front line reporting? Why are we not seeing the supposed bombing of their cities and civilians? Why are the anti Russian types having to fake videos and use old unrelated videos if such carnage is really taking place? Why are ppl like you so utterly mindless and gullible? So many questions unanswered….
Did you notice the volume of photographs and videos purportedly of the recent storm that, it turned out, were from previous storms?
It’s the internet. That’s what happens, unfortunately. It’s not a coordinated campaign. It’s people sharing old content in the search for clicks and likes and attention.
And for a Putin-fanboy to have a go at anyone for lies and fakery is pretty good going.
I’m no fan of Putin and have said numerous times that I think he’s a power hungry psychopath. But, unlike you I don’t view the world through a binary prism of goodies and baddies. This isn’t a Hollywood movie. It’s real life. Your response is pretty pathetic given no verified videos of any of the much claimed carnage are getting out at all. Why is this? Are there no western media journalists on the ground, on the front line? If not, why not? This isn’t Syria which avoided such coverage by having the threat of beheading for journalists. No reason western media can’t embed with Ukrainian forces and show us the supposedly horrifying actions of Russia.
Consistently, every time a video goes up, a few hours later its proven to be a fake, or old. It isn’t just social media, the entire western press sold us that bloodied and bandaged woman on their front pages, and then it emerges that it was from a 2018 gas explosion. Our media also happily sold us the 13 Snake Island martyrs, just for that to turn out to be poop too. You just a child like need to pick who you think are the goodies and then just swallow whole whatever plops their dropping.
Have you not heard the latest? Putin is supposed to have cancer and Parkinson.
https://www.tiktok.com/@emmalouisetierney/video/7069531624697842950
Unlike his US counterpart- who clearly has dementia.
What media outlet would you actually believe?
Bloggers and youtubers aren’t going to be travelling to Ukraine to do real reporting.
George, as above, why are there no western media journalists on the ground, on the front line? This isn’t Syria which avoided such coverage by having the threat of beheading for journalists. No reason western media can’t embed with Ukrainian forces and show us the supposedly horrifying actions of Russia. Why is it that to date any of the pictures and videos and stories western media have actually printed end up being proven false? Did you miss every front page which the bloodied and bandaged woman, or the “Russian warship, go f yourself” nonsense?
There are people on ground reporting but I’m not sharing them with you because you’ll dismiss them as fake news media so it is pointless.
As for there being no reason why foreign journalists can’t embed with the Ukrainian army within a matter of days, how do you know? I’m sure the Ukrainian army don’t want to give the Russians more info about their activities. US journalists being embedded with the US army in Iraq is a very different matter.
You’re talking absolute rubbish when you say every image is fake. Just nonsense. The photo of the woman with the bandaged face is not fake: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10560223/Ukrainian-image-war-shows-wounds-Russia-accused-faking-injuries.html
The tank crushing the car is not fake:
https://www.gettyimages.ie/photos/kyiv-explosion?assettype=image&editorialproducts=news&family=editorial&phrase=kyiv%20explosion&sort=newest
This graphic image is not fake (warning:shows a person who has been killed)
https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/graphic-content-ukrainian-servicemen-prepare-to-pick-up-the-news-photo/1238752599?adppopup=true
Another graphic image:
https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/man-mourns-near-a-body-as-airstrike-damages-an-apartment-news-photo/1238718269?adppopup=true
Apartment building destroyed by an explosion:
https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/fire-damaged-building-following-a-blast-at-around-4am-news-photo/1238746790?adppopup=true
https://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/an-apartment-room-in-a-fire-damaged-building-following-a-news-photo/1238746754?adppopup=true
I’m sure Getty is just fake news though so it is pointless.
E’Matty
2 former employees of mine from a business I used to own are out there right now today (I hope because I haven’t heard from either since Saturday) but I can assure you that I believe what they have witnessed to be true
see I understand where you are with the media etc. but when you get it on whatsapp or an old fashioned phone call from people you know very well and can trust like a family member you have a position on it
I do try to keep abreast best I can, like anyone who gives a crp I have the same problem as everyone else who has that cynical bone in their body – I trust nothing or nobody usually – but as above I’ve seen and heard the terror and upset here 1st hand
as for the geopolitics well who tf knows exactly what’s really going on, I might find out after watching a trustworthy documentary or two down the line, yes questions and lots of them
I’m not anti Russian but definitely 100% anti the regime they live under, it’s structure, it’s idea about life and how we should live it and that rat-headed snake at the top of it – I’ll tell you now without hesitation that in my fantasy brain if I had a shot at him I’d take it in an instant and I would sleep very well at night afterwards
mostly though just hoping the pair of them are now in Poland somewhere
”that rat-headed snake” a great description of him!
Goldenbrown, can you perhaps tell us a bit more of what you’ve been told by your friends please? You refer to what they have witnessed. Can you provide more detail please? Thanks.
sure thing, both in their 20’s, 2 very scared young ladies who worked part-time for me. one of them is based in Lviv apparently where her family are from, nice small chocolateybox town (been thru it once you’d think you were in the depths of Germany) close to the border with Poland…she lives and works there…she went back home from here to be with her fella and was apparently in the throes of getting organised to marry him next month…spoke about the floods of panicked people passing thru the town and the whole dilemma with herself and the fella and their plans and future…says they’re going nowhere but the fella was looking to join the effort (and find a gun, he has some military service apparently)
before we’d even finished the call the other one was lookin to talk…she is/was in Kiev itself…said they saw explosions on the outskirts of the city and heard gunfire…their choice was either stay put, go down into some metro station called Arsenal (which I tried to joke with her about…other reason it was interesting is it’s apparently super deep in the ground and they’re all afraid of bunker buster type bombs) or flee west the dilemma being the roads and would they even make it..she insisted they were all staying put but I don’t know what happened after that…oh and she’s early into her first pregnancy if it wasn’t bad enough…she’s now a qualified nurse
I hadn’t heard from or spoken to them since the business…really it was just an “oh yeah” moment, I still had their numbers on file so I thought just ask were they ok y’know? I’d say plenty of people here knows someone out there
Thanks Goldenbrown for the information and I do hope they’re both alright. What you’ve reported though does seem like pretty normal levels of anxiety for what is an invaded country. I’m not denying the fact Russia have invaded. I’m questioning the nature and form of that invasion. Western media and online content is portraying it like the slaughter House the West was actually responsible for in Iraq or Libya. I find the lack of properly verified front line reporting in this modern age most unusual. Surely all Western media would want to show the world this supposedly vicious attack? Then there’s the numerous examples of faked or old videos being presented as current conflict photos and videos. Why fake anything or use old irrelevant photos if it’s happening for real?
It seems that yes, Russia has invaded Ukraine. It does though appear this has been done with an unusual level of restraint. No water, electricity or Internet for civilians knocked out. The West regularly target those in the first wave of strikes when targeting a State. They deliberately seek to impose hardship on the population. Why hasn’t evil Russia done this?
We hear reports of attacks on Kiev, yet nobody can provide decent footage of these attacks. I have yet to see a proper gun battle, real or fake anywhere in Ukraine. It simply doesn’t add up with the narrative our media and online social media accounts are portraying. I would have expected at least one major confrontation between the two forces might have made its way to us by now in video form Yet, nothing but the odd burned out vehicle from a time and place unconfirmed.
It all feels quite weirdly theatrical and oddly lacking in proper on the ground reporting with clear imagery and video. It’s 2022, surely someone can get some decent footage of this raging war and brutal invasion that isn’t old or from a computer game? We had better coverage of Gulf War 1 and that was 30 years ago.
Oh my God you’re actually demanding to know why it isn’t a carefully curated shock and awe televised war like Iraq 1, 2 and Afghanistan. The coverage of those wars was NOT normal. It was intensive, curated and controlled, designed for specatacle and patriotism and making the good guys look awesome. Millions of dollars and military co-operation went into it, and yes, parts of the media was horrifically complicit, though it didn’t stop important stories getting out, like Abu Ghraib. None of that’s happening because it’s NOT A US WAR. Even US wars aren’t done like that any more.
We’re actually way better off. That was ugly, bloodthirsty war-as-entertainment, pro-military patriotic crap.
At the same time you’re asserting that it’s some sort of kinder, gentler war.
Priceless.
Syria invasion – ok
Ukraine mini invasion – nazis
Marty is the single dumbest dumb fupp that has ever appeared in this place, he has redefined dumfuppedness into a new dimension
ah E’Matty seriously? did you really mean to write “I’m questioning the nature and form of that invasion”
the nature of an invasion?
you can’t be serious
Excellent news!
The idea of them being wiped out was pretty depressing, so good for them for surviving, and. yknow, the Russians for taking them prisoner rather then offing them.
On this Nigel, I agree with you.
Fact is how can we trust the Media since Russian media has been shut down And we cannot get to know the other side of the situation
For all we know Ukraine could be shooting any Russian that surrenders
So if they lied about this what else are they lying about
You… trust Russian media?
What media do you trust old chum – given ‘the first casualy of war …’ and all that …
I try to sample widely and find a balance between not taking everything for granted and not retreating into cynical nihilism.
Haha but that’s not true Nigel. You refuse to look at reports from alternative non mainstream media even when it’s just raw data being shared.
To be honest after all the links that either directly contradicted the claims that were being made, turned out to be about something else completely or were just a stitched together farrago of supposition, guesswork and baseless assertions I don’t exactly jump at each ‘alternative’ link with full-throated enthusiasm any more.
talking nonsense again
“try to sample widely and find a balance between not taking everything for granted”. How do we do this Nigel if the West censors and bans any perspective from the other side? Reading lots of different Western media isn’t exactly balanced to be fair. It’s an echo chamber from one perspective.
Well non-western is not the same as Russian for a start, and it’s always best to take the approach that whatever picture you put together is going to be flawed and imperfect and sometimes it’s okay to wait for time to pass to get clarity, and sometimes you never actually get clarity.
You…trust western media? Their track record isn’t much better. WMDs and Saddam spring to mind
If you don’t trust western media – and nobody denies it needs a critical eye – what sort of an idiot would you need to be to trust Russian? I mean, I had no trouble at the time spotting that WMDs were a crock and Saddam was a bad guy but that didn’t justify an invasion, did you?
We can’t trust anything we see on the internet and the chair in the picture needs to be reupholstered.
Don’t trust any media but learn from viewing the various different perspectives. Propaganda can be informative even when false. For example, if the bombing of Kiev and attacks in the city are so terrible, why are we not being presented any good footage of this? Why no Western media reporting it from the front line? Why are they resorting to fakes and old unrelated videos?
Also, journalists not being in positions of extreme danger is not suspicious and ‘media’ is not monolithic in fact it is massively fragmented prticularly on the internet so check your sources.
“journalists not being in positions of extreme danger is not suspicious and ‘media’ is not monolithic in fact it is massively fragmented prticularly on the internet so check your sources” Nigel, it’s 2022 and it’s the biggest news story in the world after two years of nothing else but Covid. Since when have journalists become so averse to front line coverage, which goes back decades? Does every major global media organisation not have a war correspondent anymore? It is easier today to report on such events than at any other time in history. Global media is actually quite monolithic. You’ll find the same interests sitting behind most of the largest global media outlets. We already know the US media landscape has consolidated from 90 plus organisations 30 years ago to just 5 or 6 major players, often with the same major shareholders. Western global media is extremely monolithic and homogeneous.
Global media now includes the internet, of course, which is anything but monolithic, but which is so riddled with disinfo and fakery it makes the MSM look quite reliable. He’s not the only one, but Putin did his bit to make it that way.
I’m not actually sure what you mean by ‘front-line coverage’ that isn’t already coming out of Ukraine, but your blanket dismissal of the existing coverage hardly makes it likely you’d accept anything more.
Russian media has not been shutdown. RT.com, Russian state media, is accessible.
EU talking about banning RT and Sputnik, so the two main Russian media outlets in Europe will be out of bounds.
We don’t need another hero..
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/30/russian-journalist-arkady-babchenko-who-was-reported-killed-is-still-alive
So have you bought a new crystal ball ? I hope you weren’t backing horses with your predictions (be they financial or geo political) last week as every one was either pulled up or came in Paddy last.
My predictions..
lololololololols
YOU were the one stating proudly that they were dead, you blindly parroted the BS not me..
And the sanctions…
lolololololololols
The gas still flows non of the EU banks are out of pocket, neither are the major Russian banks..
A busted flush stephen..
A hit, and yet another floundering miss..
I never mentioned anything about those chaps – you must be confusing me with another one of your many admirers or have very selective recall –
I stick to financial like telling you that the SWIFT ban was a coming real soon, that punitive financial sanctions were coming to a despot near you…to follow the money – to predicting bank runs – the ruble crash, Gazprom shares doing a stone impersonation, Russian sovereign debt trading at 35c- that sort of stuff – all the stuff you assured me would happen plus your prediction that the NS2 decision would be reversed hasn’t aged well – what are you doing reading liberal propaganda in the Guardian anyway.
No stephen you were preaching about the 13 “dead” Ukrainians and you also claimed that Russia would be fupped come Tuesday.
Them SWIFT sanctions are a dud, just like you..
I wonder if the Irish times will correct the record in this odd news/opinion mash up article by their reporter with the big war boner?
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/eu-leaders-bewildered-by-russian-attack-seem-stranded-in-the-world-of-yesterday-1.4812393
They reported what the Ukranian president said. He was incorrect, the Irish Times were not.
A country really knows its on the naughty step when Switzerland decides to abandon its neutrality. So much winning. Putin is the gift that keeps giving (it all away).
EU army here we go..
Actually a Finish opinion poll taken before this fiasco for Putin kicked off showed a majority in favour of NATO membership. I’d say the number have ahem hardened a tad since. Billy no mates. I see the IOC has banned all Russian athletes and FIFA are a couple of days for kicking Russia out of world football – they just have to ditch Gazprom first which they are doing as I type
The penny finally drops for stepho..
Don’t give up the day job, kid..
I’ll sell you a few cheap call options of the MOEX if you can find a message with me saying any such thing – keep distorting deflecting and distracting stuff from your parallel universe where the facts don’t matter. Reminds me of the Brexit ultras who came back and said but you told me I was going to lose 3 limbs but I only lost 2 so everything is brilliant. Those promised sunlit uplands of Putin’s empire are finding a lot of shade. Enjoy the Guardian sub.
Replying to the wrong thread there champ
Like I said, don’t give up the day job
As I said go fetch it and quote what I am alleged to have said….because you know & I know I didn’t say anything of the sort, sniff, sniff – so I’ve still got some Russian sovereign debt to go at 35 cent on the $ and some Gazprom shares (which is only down 40% today), or maybe a bit of Sberbank (which as you know from your expertise in all things Russian) is the largest retail bank in Russia which was down 70% before the quotes disappeared Btw I said the SWIFT ban would kick in Monday or Tuesday i.e. again if you check back (i was late on that one). I at no time said Russia would be bankrupt by Tuesday – i pointed to their reserves pot @ $640 billion & the cost of the war circa %10bn – 15bn daily and the fact that it appeared as i said @ the time & which has now been confirmed that a lot of these reserve were held abroad – so out of reach – that’s what i said & that is what has transpired – follow the money . And I’d love you to share your expertise regarding SWIFT – how’s your SPFS system going (could you tell which bank using it you usually use – it’s a very very short list & getting smaller by the day i.e. there were only 26 to start with versus about 11-12,000 on SWIFT)
Lololololololols
Moving the goalposts now.
Scarlet for you stepho..
Dud sanctions parroted by dud commenter..
Ah that’s great news
Lets have a look at the old scoreboard
Well in terms of pure wealth destruction for Russia today ranks as far worse than when they defaulted back in 1999.
Gazprom down 35% -40%
Sberbank (largest retail bank 50% market share) down 68%
VTB bank down 50%
Lukoil was not so lucky today down 41%
Aeroflot (former Man Utd sponsor & Shannon Airport fan) down 35%
Yandex down 59%
Russian sovereign debt 35c – i.e. if you bought it at par (100) you can sell it for 35 cent today if you can find anyone to buy it or way to transact it or a way to pay for it.
….the hit to your average oligarch is large & the point is that money isn’t coming back – no credit department or compliance officer will let you invest in Russian assets for years after this debacle.
As the old say goes you go bankrupt slowly at first and then very quickly….liquidity or the complete lack thereof is what did Lehman’s Bros in
But of course the comical Ali pro Putin Wallace, Ming & Clare & McManus loons will do a their Brexit ultras Black Knight “tis but a scratch routine”
Any financial analyst with any kind of acumen would know they will all bounce straight back up when things calm.
Busted flush stepho..
Anyone whose IQ rises above room temperature would tell you that isn’t going to happen – credit lines – once they are pulled are not going to be put back in for years & only with regime change as no one would (asset manager, hedge fund, pension fund, sovereign wealth fund) be allowed invest in that cesspit with that lunatic is still in charge – as Russian asset will fall out or be banned from of all globally tracked indices – but you’ve not been right about anything thus far so why break a losing streak – FIFA kick Russia out of the WC as I said they would 3 hours ago (fact)- clearly they didn’t share your worries about Gazprom. Russia will take a generation to recover from this and only under new management. The world has voted with its feet. Quite a few Russian billionaires became millionaires today (fact). Russia is a poor country (fact) with GDP per capita less than Turkey (fact) and it going to get a lot poorer before this is over. It is the leper of the world the pariah of the globe. Facts not unsubstantiated opinions are what matter. Off to seek some intelligent based carbon life forms.
lololololols
plonker comment exposing you for the chancer you are..
This isn’t the first time this has happened. after 2000, and 2008 the exact same measures were enacted with the exact same results, and guess what, the economy, its oligarchs, their business’, all bounced straight away after the tensions eased.
stepho, you’re even more naive than I initially thought..
Busted flush stepho
Iran has been subjected to extreme sanctions for years. Still hasn’t collapsed. Russia far better placed than Iran to persevere. Russia still making a fortune selling gas to Europe at new inflated prices. What will higher fuel prices mean for our Western economies?
‘What will higher fuel prices mean for our Western economies?’
Massive push for renewables? Who the hell actually wants to be beholden to that fascist creep?
What are these alternative renewables Nigel, tell us?
It’s the smoke you blow up Putin’s behind
Your farts.
No, wait: the hamster running in the big wheel inside your head.
No, no, wait: the sheer raging frustration of your inceldom.
No, hang on, the friction created by the grinding of your teeth every time you type ‘lol.’
The power of the mass cringe generated in everyone who reads your comments.
The tubs of swill you churn out as commentary..
“Massive push for renewables..”
Can’t even name a single one, great alternatives man..
lolololololololols
“Who the hell actually wants to be beholden to that fascist creep?”
as if you have a choice tonto..
wake up and smell the diesel..
It’s the flapping motion of your flabby bum cheeks and those of your hero Putin as you both bounce up and down on a stained threadbare mattress to reach an unforgettable crescendo, ululating wildly
‘Can’t even name a single one’
‘Expert in everything doesn’t know what renewables are.’
‘as if you have a choice tonto..’
Is that how you feel about the global cabal and their fake pandemic and poison vaccine? Completely and utterly powerless?
“as if you have a choice tonto..”
Yeah, you’ve no choice slackjaw..
Sure you can’t even name an alternative..
Another busted flush..
Spewing nothing but confirmation bias..
Actually I wonder if we’d just string up heating executives for raising prices and blaming inflation and war while reaping massive profits and government subidies? They’ve probably killed quite a few people with their antics one way or another, so how bad?
You mean jail oligarchs..
Jail them and laugh in their faces..
Amen to that.. on that, we are most definitely agreed..
one thing I noticed that hadn’t been picked up much understandably…
any of ye remember “Mriya”?
well she’s dead now unfortunately :(
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/ukraines-massive-%E2%80%98mriya%E2%80%99-aircraft-destroyed-during-russian-invasion-200869