Ukraine on Friday issued postage stamps featuring US F-16 fighter jets, which it says it urgently needs Western allies to deliver to protect it from Russian attacks.
Hundreds of people queued up in Kyiv’s main post office to buy the newly designed stamp with a matching envelope.
Ukraine’s Ukrposhta post office service said it was releasing the design, called “Exterminators of Evil”, to stress “the urgent need for this type of aviation”.
“While we are all waiting for the arrival of the F-16s, we have decided to launch our new stamp,” said Ukrposhta director general Igor Smelyansky.
The latest eye-catching stamp, aimed at collectors, shows one of the Kremlin towers being ground into inexistence by a kitchen grater with holes in the shape of fighter jets.
The Post Office described the Kremlin as “a symbol of the empire of evil”.
The artwork is by Ukrainian illustrator Maksym Palenko.
The stamp was released in a print run of 600,000. A set of four identical stamps (without envelopes) costs 156 hryvnia ($4.22).
The proceeds will go towards buying drones for the armed forces.
Previously, Ukraine’s post office has released hugely popular stamps featuring soldiers at the front, a painting by British street artist Banksy and a soldier making an obscene gesture towards a Russian warship.
– ‘We need the real planes’ –
Collectors waiting to buy the new stamp said they liked the latest design but wanted Ukraine to have the planes for real.
“The design is great but it would be better if the F16 planes flew over here instead of stamps,” laughed Volodymr, a military veteran in a camouflage T-shirt.
“Very interesting design. I hadn’t even expected this,” said Yevgeny, a retiree in a traditional embroidered shirt.
“Let’s rub them (the Russians) out and drive them off our land.”
Sergiy, a labourer, said he was sure Ukraine would get the planes, just as it had received long-awaited weapons systems.
“(The planes will arrive — just like our victory. It’s an irreversible process,” he insisted.
US President Joe Biden gave the green light in May for Ukrainian pilots to be trained up on F-16 fighter jets.
The US-made aircraft is “renowned as one of the finest and most co-effective jet fighters worldwide” and has the capacity to “change the balance of power in favour of Ukraine”, the Ukrainian post office said.
“Obtaining them is a priority task for us today”.
