The Russian warship that was reportedly damaged during a Ukrainian missile strike has now sunk.
On Wednesday, the Moskva missile cruiser, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, was severely damaged following an onboard ammunition blast, the Russian government revealed.
While Kremlin failed to go into details about what caused the explosion on the ship, the Ukrainian government claimed they have incapacitated the vessel with a missile strike.
“Neptune missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage to the Russian ship. Glory to Ukraine!” Maksym Marchenko, the governor of Odesa, announced on Telegram.
According to sources speaking out on Telegram’s Reverse Side of the Medal, a channel with links to Russian Wagner private military contractors, Moskva was targeted by two Neptune missiles after its defenses were distracted by a series of Turkish-made Bayraktar drones.
Following the missile strike, Russia insisted all staff has been evacuated.
It has now come to light, however, that the heavily-damaged Russian cruiser has sunk.
“An SOS signal was given from the Russian cruiser Moscow at 1.05 am. [At] 1.14 am The cruiser lay on its side and after half an hour all the electricity went out,” Arvydas Anušauskas, the Lithuanian Minister of National Defense, revealed on Thursday.
“From 2 am, the Turkish ship evacuated 54 sailors from the cruiser, and at about 3 am, Turkey and Romania reported that the ship was completely sunk. The related losses of Russian personnel are not yet known, although there were 485 people on board (66 of them officers).”
While Russia initially didn’t confirm these allegations, TASS Russian News Agency later on Thursday confirmed that Moskva had indeed sunk while being towed away.
“While being towed … towards the destined port, the vessel lost its balance due to damage sustained in the hull as fire broke out after ammunition exploded. Given the choppy seas, the vessel sank,” the state media said while quoting the Russian defense ministry.
Furthermore, it has been claimed on the Telegram channel General SVR that Putin was “furious” like “never seen before” after being told what had happened.
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