The damage to the Moskva missile cruiser was caused by ammunition detonating “as a result of a fire”, the Russian defence ministry was quoted by state media on Thursday as saying, adding that the cause of the blaze was being investigated.The governor of Odesa said Ukrainian forces hit the vessel with missile strikes, while presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said “we don’t understand what happened”.
Ukraine’s southern military command later said that it hit the Moskva with a Neptune missile on Wednesday, causing significant damage, and that the ship had started sinking.The southern military command said in a Facebook post that a fire had started after the strike. It said that Russian rescue ships were then hampered by ammunition exploding on board as well as bad weather that had caused the Moskva to start sinking.
The Russian defence ministry said that the crew had been evacuated, but “the ship was seriously damaged”.
Russia’s defence ministry also said that measures were being taken to tow the ship back to port.
The Moskva is the second major ship known to have suffered serious damage since the start of the war. Last month Ukraine said it had destroyed a landing support ship, the Orsk, on the smaller Sea of Azov.
Moscow’s Black Sea fleet is blockading Mariupol and off the coast of Odesa, and its ships have been used to bombard coastal cities.
The Moskva gained notoriety early in the war when it called on Ukrainian border troops defending the strategic Snake Island to surrender, only to be defiantly refused.
