“Burns very hard.” Ukrainians say they hit Russian cruiser Moskva, the largest ship in the Black Sea

The Russian cruiser Moskva – the largest ship in the Black SeaPhoto: Wikimedia Commons

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“Neptune missiles protecting the Black Sea have caused major damage to the Russian ship,” said Ukrainian Marshal of the southern Odessa region, Maxim Marshenko.

An adviser to the Ukrainian president, Oleksii Arestovich, confirmed on Youtube the Ukrainian blows against the ship, without specifying its location.

“It burns very hard. Now. And with this turbulent sea, it’s impossible to know when they’ll be able to get help,” he said, assuring that “510 crew members” are on board.

These allegations could not be verified by AFP from an independent source.

No fire on a military ship has been reported so far by Russian news agencies.

On March 24, one month after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian navy claimed to have destroyed a Russian troop ship anchored in the port of Berdiansk, a town near Mariupol in the Sea of ​​Azov.

Moscow had not confirmed the loss, but the Russian military rarely provided information about its losses.

The ship Moskva is the one that attacked Snake Island and generated the response that became emblematic of a Ukrainian border guard who refused to surrender: “Russian warship, go to my f ***”

The flagship Moskva and how the Russian Black Sea Fleet was modernized

At the beginning of 2014, the year in which Russia annexed Crimea, the Russian Black Sea Fleet was, even by Moscow’s exhausted standards, very old.

Almost all of the 38 ships in the front line of the fleet were inherited from the Soviet period, including the flagship Moskva, the cruiser Kerch, and the destroyer Smetlivy.

The fleet was made up of frigates, corvettes, landing craft and a single electric submarine.

Following the annexation, the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet was moved to the Crimean port city of Sevastapol, and a major modernization project was launched.

Russian ships at a parade in Sevastapol (PHOTO: Vasiliy Batanov / Sputnik / Profimedia Images)

Kerci and Smetlevy were scrapped, and their crews were transferred to newer ships arriving from various shipyards, including the one in Kerci in eastern Crimea.

The flagship Moskva also passed through the shipyards, rejoining the fleet of supersonic P-1000 anti-ship missiles.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet has been strengthened also with three frigates armed with Admiral Grigorovici-class missiles, four state-of-the-art Project 22160 patrol ships and six Kilo-class submarines.

In 2014, the Black Sea Fleet did not have surface-to-sea missiles, but today a third of its ships are equipped with Kalibr missiles that are guided by reconnaissance drones and aircraft.

Russian ships on the Black Sea are not, on average, very large. Moscow, by far the largest ship, has a displacement of only 12,500 tons.

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