What happened to Russia’s flagship Moscow after the explosion?

Due to the current Black Sea area with a large storm, which obscures satellite images and sensor data, Radio CNN It is not possible to confirm the cause of the ship’s fire as well as the current condition of the ship.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry has not made any further official statement after confirming that the ship was “seriously damaged after the fire”. However, analysts said that with the fire incident, the ship could sink.

Russian state media outlets such as TASS and RIA reported that the crew had been evacuated and the cause of the fire was still being determined. Russia has not yet released information on casualties after the incident.

Satellite image of Maxar Technologies shows the ship northwest of Sevastopol, Crimea on April 10. Photo: Maxar

Russia and Ukraine have issued conflicting reports on an incident involving a Russian warship. The Russian Defense Ministry announced that the battleship Moskva had been evacuated after a fire on board exploded its ammunition depot, causing serious damage to the ship. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian side claimed to have hit a Russian warship with a Neptune missile.

Although the cause of the explosion is not clear, Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, said the incident had a major impact on the Russian navy.

Expert Carl Schuster said: “Usually, sailors have only two options in this situation. One is to flood the ship to put out the fire and the other is to abandon the ship. Otherwise, the life of the sailor is threatened before the line. hundreds of tons of explosives on board”.

According to Major Jason Lancaster, a US naval officer, this may be the first time the Ukrainian military has used Neptune anti-ship missiles in the conflict. This model of coastal-launched cruise missile “may cause the Russian Navy to change its combat methods to minimize the risk”.

Mr. Lancaster recalled the incident that Argentina sank a number of British naval ships during the Falkands War in 1982. British submarines responded by sinking the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano. The ship is the same size as the ship Moscow of Russia.

The ship Moskva in the waters off Crimea on April 10. Photo: Maxar

According to Radio CNN, Moscow is one of the most important ships of the Russian Navy. The explosion of the Moskva ship was Russia’s biggest loss in 50 days of military operations in Ukraine.

The two most recent photos that the US media have were taken by satellite on April 7 and April 10, respectively. In this photo on April 7, the cruiser Moskva is anchored in the military port of Sevastopol, Crimea. The other satellite image shows the flagship of the Black Sea fleet operating off the coast of Crimea.

The cruiser Moskva is 186 m long, with a crew of about 500 people. The ship was launched in the 1980s as Slava.

After that, the ship was renamed Moksva in 1995 and was refurbished and commissioned for the Russian Navy in 1998. The ship is equipped with a series of anti-ship missiles and many anti-aircraft missiles, torpedoes and artillery.