Russia says Black Sea warship Moskva has sunk after Ukraine claims missile strike

Russian news agencies report the sinking of the 'Moskva' after earlier saying it was seriously damaged by a fire

Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine

The Russian Defence Ministry says the missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, sank as it was being towed to port in stormy weather after an explosion and fire, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday.

The defence ministry earlier said the Soviet-era ship had been badly damaged by the fire, which Ukraine said was a result of its missile strike.

Maksym Marchenko, the Ukrainian Governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, said the Moskva had been hit by two Ukraine-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles.

“Neptune missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage,” he said in an online post.

A Pentagon official said the ship had an explosion while about 60 nautical miles south of the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

Hours later, the Moskva was still “battling a fire on board”, even as the ship was moving east to the Crimean port of Sevastopol for repairs.

“We cannot confirm what caused the damage to the cruiser Moskva. We do believe that she has experienced significant damage,” the senior US defence official said.

Russia's Defence Ministry had said that a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser caused ammunition to blow up, Interfax news agency reported. It did not say what caused the fire.

The ministry earlier said there was no “open fire” after the ammunition blew up. Russian state media said the crew had left the ship and there were no immediate casualty reports.

Western security officials were unable to confirm that Ukraine-designed prototype Neptune missiles, which have a range of 315 kilometres, were responsible.

Ship-destroying missiles from Britain have yet to arrive in Ukraine.

A western military official said the loss of the Moskva would be a “massive blow to Russian” credibility.

“This is an enormous loss regardless of how it's happened; whether it's as a consequence of ineptitude on board or an attack by Ukrainian forces,” he said.

The incident either demonstrated that Russian warships were now “vulnerable” to Ukraine missiles or it was caused by incompetence, which would be a “blow to the sense of pride in Russia’s military”.

The Moskva is the second major ship known to have sustained serious damage since the start of the war. Last month, Ukraine said it had destroyed a landing support ship, the Orsk, on the Sea of Azov.

Russia's navy has launched cruise missiles into Ukraine and its activities in the Black Sea are crucial to supporting land operations in the south of the country, where it says it has seized full control of the port of Mariupol.

Defence experts have told The National that, despite being the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva was old, having been commissioned in 1983, and had had several maintenance upgrades cancelled.

The loss of the Moskva could ease the blockade on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, allowing the country to export the mountains of grain desperately needed around the world, particularly in the Middle East.

• 

  Ukrainian Nicolai, 41, says goodbye to his daughter Elina, 4, and his wife Lolita, on a train bound for Poland fleeing from the war at the train station in Lviv, western Ukraine. AP Photo

• 

  A damaged Russian artillery tank is seen, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Trostianets, Sumy region, Ukraine. Reuters

• 

  Oksana Kolesnikova cries during the funeral of her son Anatoliy Kolesnikov, 30, a territorial defense soldier who was killed by Russian soldiers in Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. AP Photo

• 

  US actor and director Liev Schreiber prepares meals in the kitchen of the 'World Central Kitchen', for war refugees from Ukraine staying in Przemysl, Poland. EPA

• 

  A Ukrainian boy musician plays his sax to entertain citizens in a square, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Dinipro, Ukraine. Reuters

• 

  The turret of a destroyed tank near the village of Zalissya, north-east of Kyiv. AFP

• 

  An unexploded shell in a field in Teterivka, near Kyiv. Reuters

• 

  A building damaged during fighting in Mariupol, which is holding out against the Russian invasion. AP Photo

• 

  A soldier from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic during fighting in Mariupol. AP Photo

• 

  A tank destroyed in the village of Termakhivka, Kyiv region. Reuters

• 

  The main station in Dnipro, central Ukraine, where a city official said the remains of more than 1,500 Russian soldiers were being kept in its morgues. AFP

• 

  A torn Ukrainian flag hangs in front a damaged apartment building in Mariupol. Reuters

• 

  A Ukrainian child seeking asylum in the US is driven on a bus to the border from Tijuana, Mexico. Reuters

• 

  Brothers in arms of serviceman Taras Bobanych, who was killed during the fighting with Russia, carry his portrait and coffin at his funeral in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. AFP

• 

  From left to right; Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Polish President Andrzej Duda, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Latvian President Egils Levits and Estonian President Alar Karis pose for a picture before a meeting in Kyiv. Reuters

• 

  Local residents shelter in the basement of a residential building amid shelling in Lysychansk, in the Luhansk region. AFP

• 

  Local residents view a destroyed car next to a multi-storey building in Lysychansk. AFP

• 

  Ukrainian artillery shells Russian troops' position on the front line near Lysychansk. AFP

• 

  Natalya Verbova, 49, and her son attend the funeral of her husband Andriy Verbovyi, 55, who was killed by Russian soldiers while defending Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP

• 

  The father and a friend of Anatoliy Kolesnikov, 30, who was killed by Russian soldiers in his car trying to leave Irpin, mourn his death outside the morgue in Bucha. AP

• 

  Pedestrians walk past artwork by the LBWS street art collective on a street in Odesa. AFP

• 

  Engineers inspect damage to the bridge that connects Kyiv with Irpin. AP

• 

  The mark of a shell is seen on a street in Irpin. AP

• 

  A boy shows the shell of a bullet in Bucha. AP

• 

  Cemetery worker Artem, exhausted, looks at the sky while working on the grave of Andriy Verbovyi, who was killed by Russian soldiers while serving in Bucha territorial defense. AP

• 

  Nadiya Trubchaninova, 70, with her son Oleg Trubchaninov, 46, inside the room of her son Vadym, 48, who was killed by Russian soldiers on March 30 in Bucha. AP

• 

  A relative cries after the body of a civilian was exhumed from a shallow grave near his home in the village of Andriivka, in Kyiv region. AFP

Russian news agencies said the Moskva was armed with 16 anti-ship Vulkan cruise missiles with a range of at least 700km.

What is the Russian warship 'Moskva'?

Built in the Soviet era in Ukraine's Mykolaiv, the Moskva entered service in the early 1980s, Russian media report.

With a crew of 510, it was used in the Syria conflict, where it served as naval protection for the Russian forces' Hmeimim airbase.

The missile cruiser carries 16 P-1000 Vulkan anti-ship missiles and an array of anti-submarine and mine-torpedo weapons, the reports said.

The Moskva gained notoriety early in the war when its captain called on Ukrainian border troops defending the strategic Snake Island to surrender. They refused.

The troops were initially believed to have been killed, but were taken captive.

They were released as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia in late March, the Ukrainian Parliament said.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Lyudmyla Denisova, said the soldiers described being taken to an unknown location where they were held in freezing conditions and suffered frostbite.