The cruiser Moskva, a flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet that was damaged in the offensive against Ukraine, has sunk, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday night, as Ukrainian officials said their missiles had hit it.
“During the towing of the Moskva ship to the port of destination, the ship lost stability due to (caused) damage to the hull by fire after the ammunition explosion,” the ministry said, quoted by the state agency TASS. “The ship sank in rough seas,” added the steward.
The Russian ministry previously reported that the fire was under control and that the cruiser “maintained her buoyancy” while the causes of the incident were investigated. No balance sheet was published.
Authorities also reported that the ship’s towing operation was underway and that the crew of hundreds of people had been evacuated to other ships in the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
For the Pentagon, the cruiser’s sinking was a “hard blow” to Russian naval forces in the Black Sea. “This is a blow to the Black Sea Fleet, this is an important part of their effort to achieve some sort of naval dominance in the Black Sea,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN on Thursday. “This will affect their abilities,” he added.
On the other hand, the Russian investigative committee said that two Ukrainian helicopters “equipped with heavy weapons” entered Russia and fired “at least six shots at residential buildings in the town of Klimovo” in the Bryansk region close to the Ukrainian border.
Seven people, including a baby, suffered injuries “due to various reasons,” according to the source. However, these allegations could not be independently verified.
Kyiv, for its part, denied these allegations, accusing Russia of carrying out “terrorist attacks” in the border region in order to foment “antiUkrainian hysteria”.
At the same time, the Ukrainian parliament today by a majority approved a resolution qualifying the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine as “genocide” and calling on governments, parliaments and international organizations to do the same, as reported on its channel in the Telegram app. .
“Russia’s actions are aimed at systematically and consistently crushing the Ukrainian people and depriving them of the right to selfdetermination and independent development,” the resolution reads.
Kyiv says ship hit by missiles
Hours earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry had reported the fire and evacuation of the cruiser Moskva, its flagship in the Black Sea.
The 186meterlong rocket ship was “severely damaged” by a fire caused by a munitions explosion, and its crew of more than 500 had to be evacuated, according to the ministry. He later assured that the fire had been contained and that there had been no further explosions. The boat “retains its buoyancy,” he added.
But Ukrainian officials said the Moscow River was hit by “Neptune missiles” that caused “significant damage to this Russian ship,” according to Odessa Governor Maxim Marchenko. The Moskva began operating in 1983 during the Soviet era and from 2015 participated in the Russian intervention in Syria.
The ship gained notoriety at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, when it took part in the attack on the Island of Snakes, when 19 Ukrainian sailors were captured and exchanged for Russian prisoners.
In the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, authorities said they would resume evacuating civilians after Kyiv ordered a suspension as it deemed them too “dangerous”. “Humanitarian corridors in the Luhansk region will function provided that the shelling by the occupying forces stops,” said Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.
Fearing a fullscale Russian offensive, Ukrainian authorities have urged the region’s population to move west to control the area home to the selfproclaimed proRussian separatist “republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk, which are the scene of clashes with the Kiev troops since 2014.
More than 4.7 million Ukrainian refugees have fled the country in the 50 days since the invasion began on February 24, according to figures released by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday.
Of these, 90% are women and children, as the Ukrainian authorities do not allow men of military age to leave the country.
Threat over Kyiv
Since the beginning of the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has holed up his government in the center of the capital, from where he constantly demands that Western countries send heavy weapons to resist the Russian offensive.
US President Joe Biden yesterday pledged a new shipment of $800 million in military aid after hesitating to send heavy equipment for fear of further escalating tensions with Moscow and being seen as part of the conflict.
The package includes stateoftheart artillery such as M777 howitzer guns, 40,000 howitzers, 300 “kamikaze” drones, 500 Javelin antitank missiles, artillery and antiaircraft radars, 200 armored transport vehicles and 100 light armored vehicles, according to the White House.
Now all eyes are on the strategic port of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine. Its capture would be an important victory for Russian forces as it would allow them to consolidate their position on the Sea of Azov and unite the Donbass with the Crimean peninsula annexed in 2014.
The city’s mayor, Vadim Boishenko, today denied statements by the Russian Defense Ministry yesterday that its armed forces had taken control of the Mariupol port area.
Global Economic Impact
Analysts believe Russian President Vladimir Putin is aiming to secure a victory in the east ahead of the May 9 military parade in Moscow’s Red Square commemorating the Soviet victory over the Nazis in 1945. In Russia, at a government meeting, Putin urged a reorientation of energy exports to Asia.
It is necessary “to realign our exports to the rapidly growing markets in the South and East,” said the Russian President, who also spoke of a possible reduction in deliveries to the West due to international sanctions.
On a global level, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its global growth forecasts for 2022 and 2023, but still forecasts an increase in GDP in most countries.
In the eurozone, the war is having “severe” implications, according to European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde, as rising energy prices, supply chain disruptions and a loss of confidence cloud the outlook.