Following a missile attack launched by Ukraine, Russia’s Soviet-era missile cruiser Moskva sank following a fire onboard on Thursday. According to media reports, the Russian defence ministry has announced, the cause was damage caused by an explosion of ammunition on board. And the damaged flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet while being towed to port sank due to stormy seas.
More about the flagship
A symbol of Russia’s military power was leading naval assault against Ukraine and it was a 510-crew missile cruiser.
Kiev claims that a missile fired by it hit the ship which was a symbol of Russia’s military power, leading its naval assault on Ukraine.
According to reports, quoting Russia statement, the entire crew was evacuated following the explosion of the warship’s ammunition. The defence ministry of Russia later announced the ship which was afloat had sunk later on.
Since WW-II the Moskva 12,490-tonne vessel is the biggest Russian warship to be sunk in action.
This ship has been named after the capital of Russia and has a displacement of 12,490 tons. It was originally commissioned as the Slava in 1983 and it was recommissioned in 2000 as the Moskva. It had refurbished weapon systems and electronics onboard. This vessel was actually laid down in Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv – a city which was heavily bombed by the Russians in recent weeks.
The military officials of Ukraine have claimed that the Moskva was hit with Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles. This weapon, according to reports, was designed after the annexation of Crimea in 2014 – and to also protect itself against naval threats in the Black Sea.
When deployed, Moskva’s main role was to provide air defence support to other ships in Russia’s Black Sea fleet.
All you want to know about Neptune
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian officials claimed to have succeeded in hitting the Russian ship off the coast of Odessa via a missile strike on the ship.
There were two different versions from both sides – while Russia claimed that fire caused by ammunition onboard caused the blasts; and the Ukrainians claimed to have hit it using two Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles.
The design of this missile is based on a Russian Kh-35 cruise missile. In NATO this missile is named AS-20 Kayak.
Russia had previously deployed this guided missile cruiser in the Syria conflict, as it was used to provide the Russian forces in the country with naval protection.
After being in the process of being developed for six years, in March 2021, the Neptune Missile system was inducted into the Ukrainian Defence Forces to fight against the threat in the coastal areas. It has the capability of destroying naval vessels in a range of 300 km.
According to reports, to take on any attack through the sea route, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry announced its plans to integrate Neptune with patrol boats, corvettes, and missile boats, as an integrated defence system.
How did Ukraine attack?
TB-2 drones were used as decoys along with other measures towards saturation of the cruiser’s Air Defence systems to carry out the Neptune attack.
Previously too Ukrainians had claimed to have hit Russian vessels, but there was nothing to indicate that damage had been done to the Russian Navy in the Black Sea.
Has Russia lost another vessel in the ongoing war?
Yes. Last month the Saratov landing ship was destroyed by a Ukrainian attack in the harbour of Berdyansk, a Sea of Azov Ukrainian port seized by Russia.
