Moskva : Sunken warship

Russia’s flagship Black Sea missile cruiser, the Moskva, has sunk after being “seriously damaged”. The Russian defence ministry said ammunition onboard exploded in an unexplained fire and the ship tipped over while being towed back to port.

Ukraine claims it struck the vessel with its Neptune missiles.

She was the lead ship of Project 1164 Atlant class and was named after the city of Moscow. It is the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Invasion of Ukraine

On 13 April 2022, the Ukrainian presidential adviser and the Odesa governor said Moskva had been hit by Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles and was on fire in heavy seas. The Russian Ministry of Defence said the ship was seriously damaged after a fire caused a munitions explosion, without any reference to a Ukrainian strike. Russia reports the vessel as still being afloat. Turkey and Romania claim that Moskva has sunk. OSINT analysts reported that distress signals had been transmitted from the Moskva, and that multiple assistance vessels had appeared near the last known location of the ship.

The loss or disabling of the Moskva would be another blow for Russia as it readies for a new assault in the eastern Donbas region that is likely to define the outcome of the conflict.

Massing troops

Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said in televised comments on 14 April that Russia was massing troops not only along the Russia-Ukraine border, but also in Belarus and Moldova’s breakaway Transdniestria region. The Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions in the country’s east were being hit by missile strikes. Kharkiv’s governor said four civilians had been killed by shelling.

Moskva history

The ship was launched in 1979 and commissioned on 30 January 1983.

According to Russian officials the ship was stricken on 14 April when an ammunition explosion caused substantial damage. Ukrainian officials report that the ship sank after a missile strike.