Russia says shell blast damages flagship in Black Sea fleet

Russia says shell blast damages flagship in Black Sea fleet.  

According to the Interfax news agency, the Moskva missile cruiser, Russia’s Black Sea fleet’s flagship, was heavily damaged when ammunition on board exploded, the defense ministry said on Thursday.

The explosion marks Russia’s latest military setback since invading Ukraine on February 24, which Moscow describes as a “special military operation” to “denazify” the country.

According to Interfax, the entire crew had been evacuated. According to the ministry, the blast was blamed on fire, and the reason was being probed.

According to a Ukrainian official who did not provide any evidence, the Moskva was hit by two anti-ship missiles. The crew of a 12,500-tonne ship is normally around 500 people.

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“Ammunition detonated due to a fire aboard the Moskva missile cruiser. The ship had been severely damaged, “In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry claimed. “The entire crew was evacuated.”

The Moskva, which was commissioned in 1983, was claimed to be armed with 16 anti-ship “Vulkan” cruise missiles with a range of at least 700 kilometers, according to Russian news sources (440 miles). 

Interfax would not provide any additional information about the incident.

“This is the most serious ship in the Black Sea,” a retired Russian admiral said in April 2021 by the agency.

The Moskva, according to Kyiv, was involved in one of the war’s pivotal early exchanges when Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island, a small rock in the Black Sea, instructed the ship to “go fuck yourself” after it demanded surrender.

Although Ukrainian officials initially claimed that all 13 guards were killed in the following Russian attack, President Volodymyr Zelensky later claimed that some escaped.

According to Maksym Marchenko, the governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, the Moskva was hit by two Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles, who did not give evidence.