A satellite image shows the Russian warship Moskva in the port of Sevastopol, Crimea April 7. (Satellite Image © 2022 Maxar Technologies)
Conflicting reports have emerged from Russians and Ukrainians of an incident involving a Russian warship in the Black Sea.
No evidence has surfaced to support either claim, and CNN is unable to independently verify what happened.
What the Russians say: Russia’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday claimed the warship Moskva was evacuated after a fire on board detonated ammunition and severely damaged the ship, according to Russian state media.
What the Ukrainians say: Hours earlier, Odessa state regional administrator Maxim Marchenko claimed in a Telegram post that Ukrainian forces hit the ship with “Neptune” missiles, causing serious damage.
Bad weather: Due to large storms over the Black Sea obscuring satellite imagery and satellite sensory data, CNN was unable to visually confirm the ship was hit. The Russian Defense Ministry has also not released an official statement on its Telegram channel confirming the evacuation or the fire on board.
Russian state media TASS and RIA reported that the ship’s crew had been evacuated and the cause of the fire was still being determined. According to the Ministry of Defense, the Moskva is a missile cruiser that was built and commissioned in 1982.
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies showed the ship northwest of Sevastopol in Crimea on April 10.