Photo: RUSSIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE / copyright
Russia acknowledged on Wednesday that its flagship in the Black Sea was seriously damaged after a fire and an explosion.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the Moskva was on fire as a result of detonating munitions on board, although Ukrainian officials said their forces had fired two missiles at the vessel.
The Russian authorities said that the more than 500 crew members had been evacuated and that the cause of the fire is under investigation, unconfirmed nor deny the Ukrainian version.
The Moskva missile cruiser was built at the beginning of the 1980 in the city of Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, which was then part of the USSR.
Mykolaiv has been bombed regularly in the last days by the Russian troops.
The ship of 186 meters in length was the lead ship of the Atlant class of the Draft 1164 of the Soviet Navy. Initially it was called Slava (Glory), but later it was renamed Moskva (Moscow).
The main armament of the warship is anti-ship missiles P-500 Vulkan.
Became the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet in the year 2000 and played a key role during Russia’s military campaign in Syria, which began in 2015.
From 12.46 tons, the ship was part of a Russian fleet prowling the high seas and threatening the Ukrainian port of Odessa.
Different versions
The Ukrainian government claimed that the warship was hit by missiles Neptune manufactured in Ukraine.
Ukrainian presidential assistant Oleksiy Arestovych, said that the Russian rescuers could not reach the ship.
“It has been confirmed that the Moskva missile cruiser left today exactly to the place where it was sent by our border guards on the Snake Island!” Odessa Regional Governor Maksym Marchenko wrote in a post on Telegram.
He was referring to an incident that allegedly occurred on the first day of the Russian invasion on February.
The Moskva cruiser approached Ukraine’s Snake Island in the Black Sea, demanding that a small garrison of the Ukrainian border guard to surrender immediately.
But the border guards refused to do so, and one of them told the crew of the warship: “Go to hell! rno!”
Ukrainian officials initially said all border guards were killed, but later reports suggested they were taken prisoner by Russia.
For this reason, and for being the flagship since the year 1164, the incident is a significant setback for Russia’s war effort, both for military and moral reasons, notes BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner.
Whatever caused the great fire on board, the disappearance of the once mighty Moskva will be seen as poetic justice in Ukraine , adds Gardner.
In more practical terms, this incident is likely to cause Russian warships to move further offshore for their own safety.
The incident followed an earlier explosion aboard a Russian amphibious landing ship, believed to be the result of a covert Ukrainian attack.
Remember that you can receive notifications from BBC Mundo. Download the new version of our app and activate it so you don’t miss our best content.
- Do you already know our YouTube channel? Subscribe!