How to buy stamps featuring Russian warship in charity auction and help Ukraine

On April 12, 2022, the National Post Company of Ukraine called Ukrposhta released a stamps collection “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself!” featuring the Russian cruiser Moskva. The next day, as a result of a brilliant attack by the Ukrainian military, the flagship of the Russian fleet was hit by missiles and soon sank. After that, the stamps became insanely popular in Ukraine — half of the 1 million print run was sold in three days, and people lined up for them in kilometer-long lines.

In response to the crazy demand for the Russian warship stamps, CEO of Ukrposhta, Igor Smelyansky, announced the first charity auction where two pages of those stamps and two envelopes were sold for over $170,000 (5 million UAH). The whole sum has been donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

There is one last chance to buy the legendary stamps with the unique envelope. AIN.Capital made a step-by-step guide on how to do it. 

How to buy “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself!” stamps — new charity auction

On May 16, Smelyansky announced the start of another charity auction on the SmartTender.biz platform. The electronic trading system has already published 15 lots, which will be traded within the next week — till May 20.

Each lot consists of stamp sheet with six stamps “Russian warship, go f*uck yourself!” denomination F to pay for postage in Ukraine, and envelope with a postage stamp and signature of CEO of Ukrposhta Igor Smelyansky.

To participate in the auction, you need to complete the following steps:

1. Register or log in to SmartTender.biz as a “Supplier.”
2. Select any auction among those published on this page.
3. Read the conditions of the auction and apply for participation, offering your price offer and paying a guarantee fee.

Everyone can bid, except citizens of Russia and Belarus. The set price starts at $170 (5,000 UAH). 

To apply for participation in the auction, you have to pay a guarantee fee of $34 (1,000 UAH) to the account of the operator of the electronic site. If the participant wins the auction, 50% of this fee goes to pay the commission fee of the site, and the remaining $17 (500 UAH) is transferred to the KSE Foundation account as an advance payment for the lot. Each participant who does not become the winner of the auction will be refunded the paid guarantee fee in full. If desired, the participant can send these funds to the charitable account of the KSE Foundation.

Ukrposhta will send the purchased stamps and envelope to the auction winner at its own expense.

All proceeds from the sale will go to the KSE Foundation, which since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, has focused on helping Ukrainian doctors, military, and civilians.

What the stamp is all about

• The collection named “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself!” is dedicated to the legendary phrase of the Ukrainian soldier from Zmiinyi Island (Snake Island) Roman Gribov, who refused to surrender to the crew of the warship Moskva on February 24, the very first day of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops.
• The stamps became insanely popular in Ukraine after the flagship ingloriously sank on April 14. People lined up for them in kilometer-long lines.
• Smelyansky says that despite the insane demand, there will be no additional stamp print run, but the “Russian warship” series will be continued with various items and will be available online.

Today they can be found on eBay at prices starting at $1,000 apiece, with an original price of just under $5.