April 14 – The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva missile cruiser, was badly damaged when ammunition on board exploded, the Interfax news agency quoted the Defense Ministry as saying on Thursday.
Interfax said the crew had been evacuated. It blamed a fire for the blast and said the cause was being investigated.
A Ukrainian official previously said the Moskva River was hit by two rockets but gave no evidence.
The 12,500-ton ship has a crew of around 500 men. According to Russian news agencies, the Moskva was armed with 16 “Vulkan” anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of at least 700 km (440 miles).
“As a result of a fire on the missile cruiser Moskva, ammunition exploded. The ship was badly damaged,” Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. “The crew has been completely evacuated.”
Interfax did not provide any further information.
Maksym Marchenko, governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odessa, previously said in an online post that two anti-ship missiles hit the cruiser, but offered no evidence.
Last month Ukraine said it had destroyed a large Russian landing support ship, the Orsk, in the smaller Sea of Azov northeast of the Black Sea. Moscow has not commented on what happened to the ship.
Reporting by David Ljunggren; Edited by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Stephen Coates and Neil Fullick