Russian officials said their flagship Black Sea vessel sank in what Ukrainian officials claimed was a missile strike against the warship Moskva.
Defense Ministry officials in Moscow said on Thursday that the Moskva, a warship leading the country’s naval assault against Ukraine, sank while being towed to port during a storm. Moscow initially said a "fire" set off some of its weapons and that “ammunition exploded on board" as a result. Officials said the crew, believed to include around 500 sailors, were safely evacuated from the burning ship. The ministry said the fire is now under investigation.
However, the governor of Odesa claimed the damage was a result of a Ukrainian missile strike on Wednesday.
"It has been confirmed that the missile cruiser Moskva today went exactly where it was sent by our border guards on Snake Island!” the governor, Maksym Marchenko, said in a post on Telegram. “Neptune missiles protecting the Black Sea have caused significant damage to this Russian ship.”
The Neptune is a Ukrainian-made anti-ship weapon that came into operation just last year, and its design is based on the Soviet Kh-35 cruise missile. The launchers are mounted on trucks and can hit targets up to roughly 175 miles away, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Neither Russia's nor Ukraine’s claims have been independently verified. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said early Thursday that the U.S. cannot confirm Ukraine's claims of hitting the ship but did say it was a “big blow to Russia.”
Alessio Patalano, a professor of war and strategy at King's College London, told CNN that losing the flagship vessel would be a "massive blow" for Russian forces. "Ships operate away from public attention, and their activities are rarely the subject of news,” he said. “But they are large floating pieces of national territory, and when you lose one, a flagship no less, the political and symbolic message — in addition to the military loss — stands out precisely because of it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment