Ukrainian border guards who told Russian warship 'go fuck yourself' may still be alive

• Ukrainian border guards protecting Zmiinyi island from Russia were thought to have been killed.
• But the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said Saturday they believe the group is still alive.

A group of 13 Ukrainian border guards who were thought to have been killed while defending an island from a Russian warship may still be alive, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGSU) said in a statement on Saturday.

"We [have a] strong belief that all Ukrainian defenders of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island may be alive," the border agency said.

"Preliminary information that border guards may be dead came before the defenders lost contact," it added.

The border agency also said it had received information about their possible location and was "conducting work on identifying our soldiers."

"We sincerely hope that the boys will return home as soon as possible," it said. "Glory to Ukrainian defenders!"

The statement comes two days after reports said that 13 border guards on Zmiinyi Island had died when they refused to surrender to a Russian warship, telling it "go fuck yourself" per an audio recording.

The encounter quickly went viral and prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to announce that he would posthumously award all the soldiers the Hero of Ukraine award.

According to the border agency, Russian media reported they had been captured by Russian forces and were transported to Sevastopol, the largest city on the Russian-controlled Crimea Peninsula.

However, this information has not been confirmed, and it is unclear where the group could be.

Snake Island, as it's known in English, is located in the Black Sea about 30 miles off Ukraine's coast and has previously been the subject of a territorial dispute between Russia and Ukraine.

"This island, like the rest of our territory, is Ukrainian land, and we will defend it with all our might," Zelensky once said in an August 2021 interview.