Russia says Black Sea flagship Moskva still afloat after Ukraine claims devastating missile strike
- Moskva missile cruiser damaged after ammunition blew up, Russia says
- Ukrainian officials claim ship was sinking after strike by cruise missiles
Russia said the crew of its Black Sea fleet flagship were evacuated on Thursday and measures were being taken to tow the ship back to port after an explosion of ammunition on board that Ukraine said was caused by a missile strike.
Russia’s defence ministry said the fire on the Soviet-era missile cruiser Moskva had been contained. The vessel “remains afloat” with its “main missile armaments” unharmed, but was “seriously damaged”, it said. It did not acknowledge the ship had been attacked and said the cause of the fire was under investigation.
Ukraine’s southern military command said that it hit the warship with a Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship missile and that it had started to sink.
“The cause of the ‘serious damage’ was ‘Neptune’ domestic cruise missiles,” said Odesa military administration spokesman Sergey Bratchuk on Telegram. Odesa’s governor published a similar dispatch.
Both sides’ claims have not been independently verified so far. A Pentagon spokesman said the US did not have enough information to confirm what caused an explosion.
The loss or disabling of the Moskva would be another blow for Russia – on the 50th day of its war in Ukraine – as it readies for a new assault in the eastern Donbas region that is likely to define the outcome of the conflict.