Ukraine's 'big coup': Pentagon believes Russian cruiser Moskva sank after being hit by two missiles

Russia's Moskva warship was hit by two Ukrainian missiles before sinking into the Black Sea, a senior Pentagon official said Friday, calling it a “big blow” to Moscow.

Reporting to journalists on condition of anonymity, the official confirmed Kiev's account of the incident, which according to Russia was caused by the explosion of ammunition on board.

“We assess that he was hit with two Neptunes,” the official said, referring to the Ukrainian anti-ship cruise missiles.

He said it was believed that the attacks caused casualties, but that it was “difficult to assess how many,” adding that the United States had observed survivors recovering other Russian ships in the area.

The hypothesis that Ukrainian missiles hit the Russian flagship “Moskva”, as claimed by Kiev, is credible, some experts agree, while Moscow insists that the cruiser sank after a fire.

In the early hours of Friday, an attack severely damaged a Neptune anti-ship missile factory in the Kiev region. The Ukrainian army claims to have used this type of missile against the Russian ship, which would support the hypothesis that the ship was hit by them.

On the other hand, Russia claims that its 186-meter-long missile launcher was “severely damaged” by a fire that caused its ammunition to explode.

The “Moskva” was wrecked while being towed to the port of Sevastopol, “in rough sea conditions”, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, cited by Russian agencies. A version of the events that the retired US General Mark Hertling questions on Twitter, highlighting “winds of 6km/h and a little rain in the last 24 hours in the Sevastopol region”.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby refrained from confirming on Thursday the origin of the “Moskva” fire and considered it “possible that it could have been hit by a Neptune missile”, which has “sufficient range to reach the Moskva”

This Ukrainian anti-ship missile entered service in March 2021 in Ukrainian forces, according to the Ukrainian press. The Neptune is an evolution of the Soviet anti-ship missile Zvezda Kh-35, with significantly improved performance.

Fired from a battery on the ground, this coastal defense system would have a range of about 300 kilometers. The missile only unmasks its radar when it reaches close to its target, thus protecting itself to the maximum from enemy countermeasures, explains a Western military source.

These countermeasures can be of two types. The first, interfering with the missile radar (electronic warfare), and the second, destroying the missile with shells fired by a proximity weapon system of the American type Phalanx, called Duet in its Russian version.

It is not known whether the “Moskva” had one of these devices.

But what is known is that “Moskva's missile defenses were old,” according to Eldon Sutton, an expert at the US Naval Institute.

“Moskva is apparently the only ship of its class still in service and that during its modernization did not receive new radars capable of effectively detecting low-flying targets, such as anti-ship missiles Neptune,” says Latvia-based Russian news website Meduza.

In addition, “the Moskva cruiser had been making relatively predictable movements in the Black Sea” since the beginning of the Russian invasion, which was another factor of vulnerability, according to expert Sutton.

“The question is why Russia kept this ship so close to the coast without knowing whether Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles were in use,” adds Rob Lee, expert at Washington's Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI).

(With information from AFP)

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