Odessa region governor Maxim Marchenko said Ukraine had hit the guided-missile cruiser “Moskva” with two missiles that caused “serious damage”.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the ship was damaged, with no reference to a Ukrainian attack.
She said that the ammunition that was on board exploded as a result of a fire whose causes are not yet known, and added that the entire crew had been evacuated.
The cruiser usually has about 500 people on board.
And if it is confirmed that the cruiser has sunk, it will be a major blow to Russia, after the tank carrier Orsk was damaged and caught fire in an attack in Berdyansk in the Sea of Azov at the end of last month.
Russian news agencies said Moskva, which began operating in 1983, was armed with 16 Vulcan anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of at least 700 km.
In April 2021, the agency quoted a retired Russian admiral as saying, “This is the most dangerous ship in the Black Sea.”
Kyiv says Moskva was involved in one of the early clashes of the war, when Ukrainian border guards on the small Black Sea island of Snyk refused an order from the ship to surrender.
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