A Ukrainian navy missile battery reportedly has struck the Russian navy cruiser Moskva off the coast of Odessa, a strategic port city on the Black Sea in southwest Ukraine.
Multiple Ukrainian government officials claimed Wednesday that a Neptune anti-ship battery, apparently hidden in or around Odessa, scored two hits on Moskva, setting the 612-foot vessel ablaze. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyiv, announced the strike. So did Maksym Marchenko, head of the administration in Odessa. “Neptune missiles … caused very serious damage to the Russian ship,” Marchenko said. An audio recording, purportedly of Ukrainian troops reporting the attack on the cruiser, circulated on social media.
Russian state media confirmed the ship was on fire and the crew evacuated, but blamed the blaze on an accidental ammunition explosion. Some sources claimed Moskva later sank. Others indicated the charred hulk was under tow back to the Russian base in Sevastopol.
