Post by Admin on Apr 15, 2022 16:50:36 GMT
Russia's flagship Black Sea missile cruiser “seriously damaged” – BBC News
Russia's flagship Black Sea missile cruiser, the Moskva, has been "seriously damaged" and its crew forced to evacuate, according to Russian state media.
The defence ministry said ammunition on the Moskva exploded in an unexplained fire, but that the 186-metre (610 foot) vessel was still afloat.
But Ukraine has claimed it struck the vessel with its Neptune missiles.
The 510-crew warship has led Russia's naval assault on Ukraine, making it an important symbolic and military target.
The Moskva has previously become well-known after calling on Ukrainian border troops defending Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender - to which they radioed a message of refusal, which loosely translates as "go to hell".
The sunken Russian warship Moskva, which Ukraine says it destroyed in a missile strike, may have been carrying nukes when it went down, experts warn — as Russian state TV ominously declared that World War III has begun.
Russia suffered a massive blow when the flagship of its Black Sea fleet was targeted Thursday and went down off Sevastopol as it led Moscow’s naval effort in the seven-week conflict.
Now, several Ukrainian experts have raised the possibility that the 12,500-ton Moskva — the largest Russian warship to be sunk during active service since World War II — could have been carrying nuclear weapons.
Mykhailo Samus, deputy director of the Lyiv-based Center for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies, said the Moskva could have been carrying two nuclear warheads, East2West News reported.
However, the expert said they would have been in a “protected place” that would have prevented them from being damaged in the explosion, according to the news outlet.
Still, the fear of the ship’s weaponry comes weeks after defiant Russian President Vladimir Putin placed his country’s nuclear weapons on high alert following the start of the invasion.
Anti-ship missiles P-1000 "Vulkan,"which possibly can have a nuclear warhead and were carried by the Moskva cruiser.
The Kremlin’s main mouthpiece, Dmitry Peskov, also warned last month that Russia would use nukes if Putin suspects an “existential threat.”
The downing of its Black Sea flagship has already been described as a huge loss for the invading country.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday he was unable to verify either version, but stressed that the ship’s sinking has dealt a “big blow” to the Russian fleet.
Meanwhile, Andrii Klymenko, editor in chief of Ukraine’s BlackSeaNews portal, called for an urgent international investigation into whether the Moskva was carrying nuclear weapons.
