(new: Western government representative in the last paragraph.)
MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) – In the future, Russia will have to do without its most important missile cruiser in the Black Sea in its war against Ukraine. At 1:05 a.m. local time on Thursday night, the Black Sea Fleet’s warship “Moskva” sent SOS in Morse code: the ship was badly damaged after an explosion in the ammunition depot, and the crew was evacuated, according to the radio message. The causes are being investigated. Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin is also informed about the incident. Ukraine claims to have hit and sunk the cruiser with two missiles. But it remains unclear what exactly happened.
In the morning briefing, the spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, does not say a word about it. He is traditionally responsible for good tidings in the battle against Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian officials fired off a firework of success stories.
According to the head of the Odessa regional administration Maxym Marchenko, the Russian cruiser was hit by two Ukrainian “Neptun”-type missiles and severely damaged. But the information is contradictory. Once it is said that the ship was hit in front of the Snake Island conquered by Russia, another time it is said to have been hit in the Bay of Sevastopol on the annexed Crimean Peninsula. The Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych even declared the Russian warship to have sunk – although he is pretty much alone with this claim.
Nevertheless, the fire on the ship is a psychological success for Ukraine, since it is the cruiser that was asked by the Ukrainian marine Roman Hrybow: “Russian warship, fuck off!” In the meantime, this saying has become a household word in Ukraine. Among other things, the “Moskva” is said to have been involved in the conquest of Snake Island, almost 35 kilometers east of the mouth of the Danube, at the end of February.
The Russian military leadership denies the sinking, but concedes serious damage. The fire, the cause of which is unknown, has now been contained, the “Moskva” is still seaworthy and the missile decks are undamaged. Now the ship should be towed to the nearest port. The US Department of Defense sees the situation in a similar way. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby says in Washington that the ship is probably still able to move itself. Presumably, do just that and head towards Sevastopol for repairs.
In any case, the loss for the Russian armed forces weighs heavily: the “Moskva”, launched in 1979 and commissioned in 1983, is the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, more than 180 meters long and with a crew of more than 500 men. In addition, the cruiser was completely renewed just a few years ago and has enormous firepower and actually also the most modern air and missile defense systems. A repair could take months, if not years.
Such a warship is extremely important for the Russian Navy in the current situation. In all naval forces, the procedures for possible hits or accidents on board are practiced in detail. The following applies: The “external battle” is the fight with the ship’s weapon systems against the opponent. The “internal battle” applies to dealing with hits in your own ship when water ingress has to be contained and fires have to be extinguished. If evacuated, the crew gives up the ship.
It is the second larger Russian ship that was at least badly damaged in the Ukraine war. Almost three weeks ago, a Russian Navy landing ship was sunk in the port of the occupied city of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine as a result of a rocket attack.
This certainly means problems for the further conduct of the war by the Russians. Because the Russian fleet is not only losing a lot of firepower. Their warships, which have hitherto navigated unhindered in Ukrainian waters and shelled land targets from there, must also be prepared to be increasingly targeted by shore batteries.
In addition to the “Neptune” missiles manufactured in its own country, Kyiv has recently secured anti-ship missiles from Great Britain. In order to avoid these missiles, the Russian warships must increase the distance to the coast. Landing maneuvers like the one in Odessa, which has been the subject of speculation for weeks, are now much less likely.
A Western government representative spoke of a “considerable blow” to the Russian armed forces, it was an “enormous loss”. “Either they were vulnerable to a Ukrainian attack, and that calls their competence into question. Or a fire onboard an important ship caused a detonation in the ammunition bay, and that too would be a sign of incompetence,” the government official said. It is a “blow against the pride of the military”./bal/DP/men