On Tuesday 12th April, 2022 the Russian Navy Black Sea Flagship RFS MOSKVA 121 has suffered major damage with around 500 complement abandoning the ship, state media said late Tuesday in reports following Ukrainian claims of hitting the ship with a missile strike. The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the mishap of the cruiser according to the state run news agency TASS.
According to TASS a fire broke out on the ship, causing ammunition to detonate with state media did not elaborate on the cause of the fire. Meanwhile Ukrainian officials claimed that shore-based Neptune anti-ship guided missiles hit RFS MOSKVA which had been operating from the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol, Crimea.
“It has been confirmed that the missile cruiser Moskva today went exactly where it was sent by our border guards on Snake Island!” Odesa governor Maksym Marchenko said in a Telegram message –
Meanwhile on Thursday 14th April unconfirmed reports were of the Commander of the Black Sea Fleet Admiral Igor Osipov was arrested –
If that’s true, the RFS MOSKVA would potentially be the largest warship ever taken out of action by a missile and such an achievement would represent a big advance for Kyiv’s forces. The Neptune is an Ukrainian weapon, developed domestically based on the Soviet KH-35 cruise missile. It became operational in the Ukrainian forces just last year, according to Ukrainian media reports.
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Published – Thursday 14th April, 2022
