Barely seven weeks after the start of the war, the Ukrainian post office has issued new stamps - with a clear message to the Russian invaders.

It shows a Ukrainian soldier giving a warship the finger.

A special postmark also depicts the outline of the Snake Island in the Black Sea conquered by the Russian Navy - as well as the beginning of the sentence "Russian warship, piss off!" The motif and the sentence are an allusion to a recorded radio message in the first days of the war at the end of February.

A Russian warship had asked the Snake Island garrison to lay down their arms.

The Ukrainian marine infantryman Roman Hrybow replied: "Russian warship, fuck off!" The almost thirty-two-year-old then became a folk hero.

Since then, the slogan has been placarded nationwide and adorns T-shirts and other souvenirs.

The stamps were issued in two versions: one for domestic and one for foreign.

The first special envelopes covered with the stamps were signed by Hrybow and post chief Ihor Smyljanskyj in the main post office in Kyiv.