Pentagon: ‘Moskva sunk by Ukrainian missiles’ – crew could not be rescued according to Kiev | Abroad

Read all the news about the war in Ukraine in this dossier.

The US official said the 186-meter-long warship was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune missiles, as Ukraine has been claiming. Moscow contradicts this and says that the explosion of ammunition caused fire on the ship. That version is denied by the American. The badly damaged Moskva is said to have sunk while being towed to the nearest port, but Russians say the crew could be quickly disembarked.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the crew – more than 500 people – had been “evacuated to other Black Sea Fleet ships in the vicinity”. But it was not said whether it was the entire crew.

According to Ukrainian media, only 58 crew members appear to have been rescued. The commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Igor Osipov, is said to have been arrested in Russia following the sinking of his flagship, according to unconfirmed reports.

Kiev says it is aware that reprisals from Moscow will follow. Earlier in the day, a factory that makes Neptune missiles near Kiev was hit by a Russian missile attack. Kiev prepares for new attacks on the capital. “We are ready and we will oppose it,” it sounds.

Moskva was launched in 1979 from a shipyard in Mikolayiv in the then Soviet Republic of Ukraine. The naval vessel was involved in the 1989 US-Soviet-Russian summit in Malta with then-leaders Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. Many meetings were held on naval vessels and delegations also stayed overnight on board. Due to bad weather, the summit was also called the seasick summit.

Also see: What is the Moskva, the flagship of the Russian fleet?