Ukraine’s state postal service has issued a commemorative wartime stamp dedicated to the strike on the Crimean Bridge last month, which sparked celebrations across the country. Its release has been timed to coincide with Russia’s Unity Day on 4 November.

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The Crimean Bridge was built to connect Russia to the territory it illegally annexed in 2014, and symbolised the country’s eternal control over the peninsula and its regional impunity. President vladimir putin was there to open it.

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For Ukrainians, the bridge was a reminder of Russia’s occupation and their inability to act against Russia, then widely considered the world’s third most powerful army.

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Designed by the Ukrainian artist Yuriy Shapoval, the stamp shows the bridge behind clouds of dark grey smoke. In the forefront is the famous scene from the Titanic, where Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet stand on the bow of the ship a reference to Russia’s claims that the bridge was unsinkable. There is a washing machine, and enemy equipment, and the handcuffs that Crimea is breaking with Russia.

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Ihor Smelianskyi, the CEO of Ukrposhta, Ukraine’s state postal service, wrote on Telegram that the stamp showed “the Titanic efforts by our people and our armed forces”.

“Our bridge is standing strong, their bridge is as tired as their ideology,” Smelianskyiwrote about the stamp’s launch on the footbridge in Kyiv that was shaken when a Russian missile landed next to it a few weeks ago. “Today eight years, eight months, eight days as Russians began their attack and hope our victory is less than eight months ahead.”

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