Moskva, a guided-missile cruiser and the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, suffered ammunition explosions and fire while operating in the Black Sea off Odesa on April 13. Exactly what happened is unclear.
Reuters reports that 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.
Russia said that a fire broke out aboard the ship that caused an explosion of ammunition. They say that the crew of its Black Sea fleet flagship were evacuated on Thursday and measures were being taken to tow the ship back to port.
State media outlets TASS and RIA, citing the Russian Defense Ministry, said the Moskva had been seriously damaged in the incident and that the cause of the fire was being investigated. The Russian reports gave no information on possible casualties.
“The loss of not just a principal surface combatant in the Russian navy, but also the fleet flagship, would amount to more of a psychological blow to the Russians,” Collin Koh, an expert on maritime security at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University told the Washington Post.
The notion that Ukrainian missiles hit the Moskva reinforces “the image of hardened resistance by the Ukrainians” and sows “more doubt in the minds of Russian servicemen,” particularly the sailors serving on Russian warships off Ukraine’s southern coast, he added
Well now the previous report of the Snake Island drama turned out to be “fog-of-war” propaganda. Hopefully this attack turns out to be an accurate report of “her” or as the Russians say “him” when addressing ships, and the vessel has sunk.
Good Watch
Moskva cruiser sank while being towed in a storm – Russian Defense Ministry
“During the towing of the Moskva cruiser to the designation port, the ship lost stability due to hull damage, sustained during the detonation of ammunition because of a fire. Amid the heavy storm, the ship sank,” the Ministry said.
See – https://tass.com/russia/1438045?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=t.co&utm_referrer=t.co
Right, Pravda. Usually fires in the ammunition bunkers get started for a reason. For instance, a missile strike.
“Pravda” means “truth” and “Izvestia” means “”bring news” translated from Russian. During the Cold War days we used to say there was no news in truth and no truth in news. No doubt much the same these days !!
Good Watch
A British naval view of the matter
https://www.navylookout.com/russian-cruiser-moskva-sunk-in-the-black-sea-assessing-the-implications/
NPR is reporting that the Ukranian story is correct.