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Conflicting claims about what happened to a key Russian warship swirled early Thursday, with some Ukrainians claiming a missile attack sank the ship and the Kremlin saying only that it suffered significant damage from fire.
But whatever happened to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva – the flagship of its Black Sea fleet – the episode serves as a significant morale boost for besieged Ukrainian forces and a major blow to Russia, military experts have said.
Late Wednesday, Odessa state regional administrator Maxim Marchenko said a Ukrainian Neptun anti-ship cruise missile hit the Moscow River and caused serious damage. Hours later, the Russian Defense Ministry acknowledged that a key ship in its Black Sea Fleet suffered significant damage, but did not address the Ukrainian claims.
Instead, the Russians said they were investigating what caused the damage, blaming a fire that detonated the ship’s ammunition for the setback. All of the ship’s crew of about 500 were evacuated to other Black Sea Fleet ships in the region, Russia said.
The Russian Defense Ministry later said that “fire on the cruiser Moskva was localized” and “munitions explosions were stopped,” RIA Novosti news agency reported. It said the ship retained “buoyancy” and its “main missile armament” was not damaged. The ministry added that efforts are underway to “tow the cruiser to port” and that the cause of the fire is being investigated, RIA Novosti reported.
Ukraine said in an update that the Moskva River was “seriously damaged” by a Neptun missile that caused a fire. “Other units of the ship group tried to help, but a storm and a powerful explosion of ammunition overturned the cruiser and she began to sink,” said the Ukrainian military.
Adding to the confusion, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN that senior Ukrainian officials are unsure what is true. “Either two sailors smoked in the wrong place, or certain security measures were once again violated,” said Oleksiy Arestovych. He later tweeted that the ship “drowned”.
Early Thursday, the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Moscow-based think tank, said on its Telegram channel that it believed the ship had been sunk and sided with the Ukrainian assessment. “The flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva cruiser, was actually attacked by the Neptun anti-ship missiles from the coast between Odessa and Nikolaev,” it said. A drone distracted the ship before the missiles hit, it said.
If the 12,000-ton Moskva sank, it would be the largest wartime naval sinking since World War II.
The Washington Post has not been able to independently verify the accuracy of the claims.
The Moscow River doesn’t have much strategic value, but as the Black Sea flagship it does have symbolic importance, said Artyom Lukin, a professor of international relations at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia.
The ship is named after the Russian capital and was at the center of a widely reported attack on Snake Island when Ukrainian border guards drew global attention for insulting Russian troops in the early days of the invasion.
On Ukraine’s Snake Island, a defiant last stand against Russian forces
“Losing not only a key surface fighter of the Russian Navy, but also the fleet’s flagship would be more of a psychological blow to the Russians,” said Collin Koh, a maritime security expert at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
The idea that Ukrainian missiles hit the Moscow River reinforces “the image of Ukrainians’ hardened resistance” and casts “more doubts in the minds of Russian soldiers,” particularly the sailors serving on Russian warships off Ukraine’s southern coast, he added he added.