Memes started to be made on Reddit, among other platforms, going into the next day as users celebrated the heroic defiance of the soldiers on Snake Island. Wu-Tang Is For The Children February 25, 2022 The Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island died as heroes 🙏 #StandWithUkraine /b114AiUwoh The audio was also spread to Twitter in numerous reposts, such as one from user WuTangKids on February 24th, receiving over 800 likes and 250 retweets in roughly 24 hours (seen below).

Additionally, the footage of the soldier's livestream made its way to /r/CombatFootage, posted by Redditor SpudsTheBinky who earned roughly 9,700 upvotes for the post in less than 24 hours. For instance, Redditor oh_hi_mark_31 posted about the development to /r/ukraine, earning roughly 6,500 upvotes in less than 24 hours. News of the Snake Island event started to spread to other platforms going into the remainder of February 24th, 2022. The Snake Island livestream video was posted to YouTube on the same day by the channel Shanghai Media, earning roughly 12,000 views in less than 24 hours (shown above, right). However, it only lasted seven seconds as the first bombardment began, causing him to shout an expletive and end the stream abruptly. The entire event and conversation was documented in a video made accessible by the YouTube page WarLeaks – Military Blog, who posted the video on February 24th and earned roughly 894,400 views in less than 24 hours (shown below, left).Īdditionally, a screen-recording was taken by one of the soldiers on the island who briefly started a livestream to document what was going on. Otherwise, you will be bombed.' The defiant Ukrainian soldiers simply responded with, 'Russian warship, go fuck yourself,' prompting a naval and air bombardment that destroyed all infrastructure on the island from the Russians, killing all 13 soldiers. The small group of 13 soldiers were met with Russian warships, who gave them an ultimatum to surrender, quoted in a viral audio clip saying, 'I suggest you lay down your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and needless casualties. The island's location was strategic in nature, so much so that the Russian military decided to launch a military effort to take it over as they invaded Ukraine.

On February 24th, 2022, a small group of 13 Ukrainian soldiers was stationed on the small isle of Snake Island, located in the Black Sea. Days later on February 28th, the Ukrainian navy confirmed none of the soldiers on Snake Island died. Additionally, many meme creators called the soldiers the 'Snake Island Chads.' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later awarded each of the soldiers with the posthumous title 'Hero of Ukraine,' the country's highest military honor. The memes were similar in nature to the ones made about the Ghost of Kyiv at the same time.

Memes about the Battle of Snake Island centered on the heroic nature of the soldiers for defending such a small island solely based on pride for their nation, particularly due to their response to the Russian warship. The first moments of the attack were documented in a livestream from one of the soldiers on the island, whose video quickly spread to YouTube and Reddit alongside the audio between the two groups of soldiers. Battle of Snake Island refers to an event that took place during the first stages of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in late February 2022 where Ukrainian soldiers were defending a small island in the Black Sea called Snake Island, resulting in 13 of them reportedly dying in battle.

Battle snakes