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Russian navy evacuates badly damaged flagship in Black Sea

14 April 2022 18:19 (UTC +04:00)

One of the Russian Navy's most important warships has been badly damaged in the Black Sea, APA reports citing CNN.

Russian sailors evacuated the guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, after a fire that detonated ammunition aboard, Russia's defense ministry said.
Ukraine's Operational Command South claimed Thursday that the Moskva had begun to sink after it was hit Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles.
"In the Black Sea operational zone, Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles hit the cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet -- it received significant damage," the statement said. "A fire broke out. Other units of the ship's group tried to help, but a storm and a powerful explosion of ammunition overturned the cruiser and it began to sink."
Russia's defense ministry said Thursday that the Moskva "remains afloat" and that measures were being taken to tow it to port. The ministry said the crew had been evacuated to other Black Sea Fleet ships in the area.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeatedly declined to answer questions about the fate of the Moskva during a daily media call Thursday.

"This is a topic for the Ministry of Defense, I can't say anything," he said.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told CNN's Brianna Keilar that "there was an explosion" on the Moskva, but said the United States cannot say at this point if the ship was hit by a missile.

"We're not quite exactly sure what happened here. We do assess that there was an explosion, at least one explosion on this cruiser. A fairly major one at that, that has caused extensive damage to the ship," Kirby said.

"We assess that the ship is able to make its own way, and it is doing that; it's heading more towards, now, we think the east. We think it's probably going to be putting in at Sevastapol for repairs," he added.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday that "the way that this has unfolded is a big blow to Russia," as Moscow has had to admit its flagship has been badly damaged.

"And they've had to kind of choose between two stories. One story is that it was just incompetence, and the other is that they came under attack. And neither is a particularly good outcome for them," Sullivan told an audience at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C.

Whatever happened to the Moskva, analysts say its loss would strike hard at the heart of the Russian navy as well as national pride, comparable to the US Navy losing a battleship during World War II or an aircraft carrier today.

"Only the loss of a ballistic missile submarine or the Kutznetsov (Russia's lone aircraft carrier) would inflict a more serious blow to Russian morale and the navy's reputation with the Russian public," said Carl Schuster, a retired US Navy captain and former director of operations at the US Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center.

Alessio Patalano, professor of war and strategy at King's College in London, said losing the warship would be a "massive blow" for Russia.

"Ships operate away from public attention and their activities are rarely the subject of news. But they are large floating pieces of national territory, and when you lose one, a flagship no less, the political and symbolic message -- in addition to the military loss -- stands out precisely because of it," he said.