It has been described as a hard blow for the Russians, “more psychological than material damage”.
The Moskva, the Russian flagship missile cruiser in the Black Sea, sank after a “explosion” that occurred last Wednesday, as confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry.
The ship was being towed to port when “stormy seas” caused it to sink, according to a statement.
kyiv says its missiles hit the warship.
Moscow has not reported any attack and claims that the ship sank after a fire that caused the ship’s ammunition to explode.
According to the Ukrainian army, the Moskva was attacked with locally made Neptune missiles, a weapon that was designed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The United States described the news as a “major blow”, but its officials could not confirm whether the m Ukrainian Neptune missiles were responsible for the sinking of the ship.
With 12,360 tons, the Moskva is the largest Russian warship that has sunk in combat since World War II.
The missile cruiser of 510 crew was an important symbol of Russia’s military might and was leading the naval assault on Ukraine.
Now Russia will have to continue the battle without its flagship, which could be difficult.
A loss “humiliating”
Experts agree that this is a major setback for the Russian forces, both for military and moral reasons.
Most do not doubt that will further complicate the ambitions of the Kremlin in Ukraine.
“The disappearance of the once powerful Moskva is seen as poetic justice in Ukraine”, explains Frank Gardner, security correspondent for the BBC.
“This incident is likely to cause Russian warships to move further away from the coast for your own safety“.
Jenny Hill, BBC correspondent in Moscow, points out that the sinking of the Moskva is a “significant and humiliating” loss for the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
Blow to national pride
The Russian president has insisted on multiple occasions that his “special military operation” in Ukraine is advancing successfully, “as planned”.
But Hill insists that the sinking of the Moskva now means “ a blow to national pride” Russian.
“What was once a symbol of Russia’s power and ambition, is now at the bottom of the sea,” adds the journalist.
In Russia, the morning television bulletins were limited this Friday morning to briefly repeating the statement issued by the Defense Ministry.
Some commentators argued that the fire suppression system on board the forty-year-old warship was already old and inefficient.
For Mykola Bielieskov, from the National Institute of Strategic Ukraine, the damage is “more psychological than material“.
“(The sinking of the ship) will not completely end Russia’s naval blockade of Ukraine”, he told the BBC.
“But it is a powerful it is a symbol that sophisticated weapons can be used effectively”.
The Russians are now more vulnerable
Bielieskov, who advises the Ukrainian government on military strategy, also predicted that “Russian ships will now be forced to move further away from the Ukrainian coast, where they can no longer feel safe“.
The Moskva did not fire missiles at Ukrainian ground targets, but military experts told the BBC that the ship offered crucial support to other ships that did.
The remaining ships in the Russian Black Sea fleet will now be more vulnerable to air attacks , although it is not clear whether the Ukrainian forces, which have suffered multiple casualties, have the resources to take advantage of the situation.
“The Moskva was the only fleet ship that had long-range air defenses on board,” explains Sidharth Kaushal, maritime energy expert at the Ro and the United Services Institute.
“While the smaller ships carried out bombing raids on Ukrainian cities, the Moskva provided them with cover wide-area aerial.”
“Very embarrassing”
The cruise ship missile was previously deployed by Moscow in the conflict in Syria, where it provided naval protection to Russian forces in the country.
It is the second large ship that Russia loses since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine.
Admiral Alan West, former Chief of the Naval Staff of the United Kingdom, points out that in addition to being a military coup, the loss of the ship is “very shameful.”
“It has a great impact,” West assured, in an interview with BBC Radio 4. before Russia confirmed that the Moskva had sunk.
“Putin loves the navy. When he came to power, the marina was the first p art of the finished Soviet forces in which he put efforts. He has always had a soft spot for the navy”.
The warship was for many years a “symbol of Russian naval power in the Black Sea”, according to Michael Petersen, of the Russian Maritime Studies Institute.
“The Moskva has been a thorn in the side of the Ukrainians since the beginning of this conflict,” he told the BBC, before adding that seeing it destroyed would be “a real morale boost for Ukrainians.”
Previously in the conflict, the Moskva gained notoriety after his crew ordered the Ukrainian border troops defending Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender.
The guards refused and radioed a memorable rejection message that loosely translates as “go to hell”.
Originally built in the Soviet era, the Moskva entered service in the early 1990s 1980 and since then it has become the most feared ship in the region.
Whether it was due to a fire, as Moscow claims, or a Neptune missile, as kyiv alleges, the battle for control of Ukraine took that title from him.
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