Four days after the confirmation of the sinking of the missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Navy, the first images of the ship damaged after the impact of Ukrainian missiles began to circulate, in one of the hardest blows to Russian forces invading the neighboring country.
The photos, taken from another boat, show very obvious damage, with an active fire in the center of the ship, which already appears partially tilted and sunk.
The area where the impact of the Ukrainian Neptune missiles would have occurred coincides with the area where anti-ship rockets usually aim and is also the area where the arsenal is stored in armored tubes. The ship's armament included 16 Vulkan anti-ship missiles and 64 S-300F anti-aircraft missiles on eight shuttles, as well as artillery, torpedoes and depth charges.
No lifeboats can be seen, which would have been deployed near the back of the ship. In emergency operations, the non-essential crew would be on the deck of the ship, but no one is seen, because what is understood that all officers would have left the cruise ship in the evacuation.
The images also allow you to see burned areas on the upper edges of the helmet, indicative of widespread fire damage inside. The smoke, dark and dense, could be the result of burning heavy fuels or synthetic materials.
Pentagon sources, who initially avoided confirming the causes of the sinking, then indicated that the cruiser was hit by at least one Ukrainian missile and probably two hits.
The ship was hit by missiles when it was about 65 nautical miles from Odessa (Ukraine) and was able to advance on its own for a few hours until it sank on Thursday. Pentagon sources assured that on board the ship were cruise missiles “which are now at the bottom of the Black Sea”.
The sinking of Mosvka, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, is a serious setback for Russia. According to the version of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the ship went sinking on Thursday in the middle of a storm when it was towed into port, already without its crew, which had been evacuated on other ships of the Black Sea fleet.
With a length of 186.5 meters, 20.8 meters wide and a displacement of 11,490 tons, the ship, reaching a maximum speed of 30 knots, was launched in 1979 and four years later entered service in the Soviet Navy under the name “Slava” (glory).
The loss of the Russian navy's flagship could force Moscow to change the way its naval forces operate in the Black Sea, the UK Defense Ministry said. In an update published on Friday on social media, the British portfolio said the Soviet-era ship, which was operational again last year after a major refurbishment, “played a key role as a command ship and as a node with air defense.”
Its sinking, he added, “means that Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since it invaded Ukraine, the first of them, the Saratov, an Alligator-class landing ship, on March 24. Both incidents could lead Russia to review its maritime position in the Black Sea.”
On Monday, the Ukrainian Army estimated that Russian soldiers killed in combat since the beginning of the war were “about 20,600″, a figure higher than that recognized by Moscow, in the context of the invasion unleashed on February 24 by order of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army indicated that to date 790 tanks, 381 artillery systems and 130 self-propelled and armored multiple rocket launchers have been destroyed during the hostilities. They also detailed that 167 aircraft, 147 helicopters, 67 air defense systems, 1,487 vehicles, eight boats, 76 fuel tanks and 155 drones have been destroyed. “The data is being updated. Hit the enemy. Let's win together,” they settled.
(With information from EFE, Europa Press and AP)
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