Ukrainian Snake Island sailors who shouted 'Go f**k yourself' at invading Russian forces before being captured are FREED in prisoner exchange with Moscow

• The sailors were initially thought to have been killed by invading Russian troops
• However, Russia later shared pictures showing they had been captured instead
• They were released in exchange for 11 Russian sailors captured from sunken ship
• Sailors defending Snake Island were heard telling Russians to 'go f*** yourself'

Ukrainian sailors who were captured after telling the Russian military to 'go f*** yourself' over the radio as they defended a small island in the Black Sea have been freed in a prisoner exchange with Moscow.

The 19 sailors defending Zmiinyi (Snake) Island were initially thought to have been killed by the invading Russian navy during the first week of the war, but it was later confirmed that they had been held as prisoners of war.

On Thursday, exactly one month after Russian troops invaded, the Ukrainian Parliament confirmed the sailors had been released as part of an exchange for 11 Russian sailors captured from a sunken ship.

In a Twitter post, the Ukrainian Parliament wrote: 'The first exchange of war hostages occurred on President Zelensky's order.

'Additionally, today, Ukraine exchanged 11 Russian sailors we rescued from a sunken ship near Odesa to 19 Ukrainian sailors (authors of the legendary phrase 'Russian warship go f*** yourself').'

The Ukrainian Navy previously confirmed that the soldiers on the island repelled two attacks by Russian forces on February 24, but were forced to surrender 'due to the lack of ammunition.'

They also said in the statement that Russian forces destroyed Snake Island's infrastructure, including lighthouses, towers and antennas.

The day after the attacks, an audio clip was shared online in which an officer from a Russian military ship could be heard telling the Ukrainian guards to 'lay down your arms immediately to avoid bloodshed and unjustified deaths', adding 'otherwise you will be bombed'.

The guards were then heard talking amongst themselves, agreeing 'this is it', before they responded to the Russian navy saying: 'Russian warship, go f*** yourself.'

Ukraine later lost contact with its forces defending the island after Russia conducted strikes from the air and sea, officials in Kyiv said.

A video circulating on Twitter also appeared to show the moment that the island was shelled. It showed a Ukrainian soldier staring at a camera before a shell landed nearby. 

Ukraine on Thursday said its 19 sailors were returning home from the rescue ship Sapphire which was captured by Russian occupiers while trying to withdraw Ukrainian troops from Snake Island.

'Under the exchange terms, the lifeboat will also be returned to Ukraine and sent to a Turkish port', the Ukrainian Parliament added.

The guards defending Snake Island, a strategically-significant speck of land south of the port of Odessa, were originally thought to have gone down in a blaze of glory during the attack and Zelensky even promised to posthumously decorate 'the heroic deceased border guards.'

But pictures released by the Russian Defense Ministry claimed the guards, part of the Ukrainian independent law enforcement agency, the State Border Guard Service, were still alive after 'voluntarily' surrendering their garrison to Russian troops.

Almost a dozen photos released by Russia purportedly showed the men boarding buses, being given bottled water and a food parcel, before being shown sitting in their seats.

Snake Island sits just miles from the coast of Romania.

It is strategically important because it would allow Russia to claim territorial waters stretching 12 nautical miles out to sea.

They cover important shipping channels to the port cities of Odessa, Mykolaiv and Kherson.

After taking the island, Russia would have been able to cut off the shipping channels, isolating Ukraine from international markets and depriving its economy of vital trade revenues as the country sought to defend itself.