image source,AFP
Ukraine said that its Neptune cruise missile successfully hit the Moscow.
Since the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, sank in the Black Sea last week, Kyiv and Moscow have different opinions on the cause of the sinking, but some analysts say the incident has dealt a heavy blow to the Russian army.
This weekend (April 16), the Russian Ministry of Defense released for the first time a video of what it said was the crew of the “Moscow” parade after the incident. This is also the first time that images of soldiers from the warship have emerged since the warship sank last week.
In the film, the soldiers of the “Moscow” were seen in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, where they were received by the commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, General Nikolay Yevmenov.
The Russian Defense Ministry said last week (April 14) that ammunition on the cruiser “Moscow” had “exploded by accident”, and the warship was towed back to port and sank in the Black Sea due to a tilt caused by a storm. Russia added that the crew of the warship had been taken to Sevastopol, one of the main ports on the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.
Ukraine said that the Neptune cruise missile developed by the country successfully hit the “Moscow”.
Video of the weekend’s military parade is the first time Russia has provided evidence of crew members alive.
In the film, Admiral Yevmanov and two other officers stand on a parade ground with about a hundred navies in front of them. It has not yet been confirmed when the interview will take place.
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“Moscow” sinks
Since the “Moscow” sank in the Black Sea last week, Ukraine and Russia have different accounts of the incident. Unnamed U.S. officials told the media they believed Ukrainian claims that the cruiser Moskva was sunk by missiles.
Kyiv said a missile developed by the country hit the warship, killing its captain on board. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, said on Telegram that the captain of the “Moscow”, Anton Kuprin, died in the fire on the ship.
The BBC has not been able to verify this claim.
Kyiv said Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles attacked the Moscow. The missile was developed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 in response to growing Russian maritime threats against it.
A senior U.S. official said on Friday (15th) that the United States now also believes that the “Moscow” was hit by two Ukrainian missiles. The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters the U.S. believed there were casualties in the incident, but the number was unclear.
A senior Ukrainian official said there could be as many as 510 crew members aboard the Moskva.
However, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that the “Moscow” sank due to a storm when it was towed to the port.
At first, Moscow claimed that the warship was still at sea, but later on Thursday (14th) local time, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the warship had sunk. The 12,490-ton warship is the largest Russian warship sunk in a war since World War II.
“While being towed to the port, the hull was damaged and lost its balance due to fire after the explosion of the ammunition. The ship sank due to high winds and waves,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
On February 24, the first day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Moskva was famous for sending out telegrams demanding the surrender of Ukrainian border guards garrisoned on Snake Island in the Black Sea, which radioed refusal to surrender information is unforgettable.
“Moscow” was originally built in Soviet times and entered service in the early 1980s. The warship was actually built in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, which has been heavily bombed by Russia in recent days.
The 510-crew missile cruiser is a symbol of Russia’s military might, leading Moscow’s naval attack on Ukraine.
image source,Reuters
Moscow
strategic impact
“It’s more of a psychological damage than a material one,” Mykola Bielieskov, from Ukraine’s National Institute of Strategic Studies, told the BBC.
He added: “It won’t completely remove Russia’s naval blockade of Ukraine….but it’s a powerful symbol that we can use sophisticated weapons effectively.” Birey, who advises Ukraine on military strategy “Russian warships will now be forced to stay away from the Ukrainian coast, where they no longer feel safe,” Koff predicts.
The Moskva itself did not fire missiles at land targets in Ukraine, but military experts told the BBC it provided vital support to other ships that fired missiles. Analysts say the remaining warships of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet will be more vulnerable to air strikes, although it’s unclear whether Ukraine’s depleted military still has the resources to do so.
“Moscow is the only ship in the fleet that has a long-range air defense system,” said Sidharth Kaushal, a naval expert at the Royal Inter-Services Institute (RUSI), a British think tank.
“While smaller warships bombed Ukrainian cities, the Moskva provided them with extensive air cover,” he told the BBC.
image source,SPUTNIK
Putin in Moscow in 2014
Mosk’s combat record
The guided-missile cruiser was previously deployed in the conflict in Syria, where it provided maritime defense for the Russian military in Syria. It is also the second large warship that Russia has lost since its invasion of Ukraine.
Aside from being a military blow, the loss of the ship was “very embarrassing”, said Admiral Lord West, the former first sea secretary and chief of naval staff.
“It’s going to have a big impact,” Admiral West told the BBC before confirming the sinking of the Moskva.
“Putin loved the navy. When he came to power, the place where he put a lot of effort into the old Soviet forces was the navy. He always had a soft spot for it,” West explained.
Analysis: The sinking of the Moscow is a blow to Russian national pride
BBC correspondent Jenny Hill from Moscow
For Putin, the sinking of the “Moscow” in the Black Sea was a major and shameful loss. Because he has repeatedly insisted that his “special military operation” in Ukraine is going according to plan.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, however, Russian state media seems reluctant to dwell on the sinking of the Black Sea Fleet. For example, at the time of the incident, Russian television only briefly reported official statements. The statement said the warship sank in the storm as fires and explosions on board caused significant damage to its hull.
Some newspaper commentators appeared to support these claims, arguing that the fire-fighting system on the more than 40-year-old ship was outdated and inefficient. Some commentators added that the development would not change the course of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Still, the incident struck a blow to Russian national pride, once a symbol of Russian strength and ambition, and the “Moscow” has sunk to the bottom of the sea.
In a Russian TV talk show, although the host did not mention that the ship was hit by a Ukrainian missile, Vladimir Bortko, the film director and former MP who was a guest on the show, said emotionally : “Moscow’s doom is the reason why this war was started.”