Ukrainian forces claim to have taken out Russia’s Black Sea flagship “Moskva” with a missile strike, while Russian officials say a fire on board had caused ammunition to start exploding. Here is what we know so far.
The pride of Russia’s navy, missile cruiser “Moskva,” has sunk while being towed into port, Russian officials confirmed.
The loss of the cruiser named after the Russian capital is a significant blow to Russia’s naval prestige and greatly reduces its navy’s firepower in the Black Sea. But Ukraine and Russia have offered different accounts on what happened with the Russian warship.
What does Ukraine say happened to ‘Moskva’?
According to Ukrainian officials, its military targeted “Moskva” with Turkish-made Bayraktar drones to take out the ship’s radar system, and followed it up with a missile strike.
The ship was allegedly hit with two “Neptune” cruise missiles. The missiles, which were developed by Ukrainians and entered service in August 2020, have a range of around 300 kilometers (186 miles) and can carry warheads of up 150 kilograms (over 330 pounds).
