Sources from the United States Department of Defense confirmed this Friday that the Russian missile cruiser Moskvá (Moscow) sank. This following receiving the impact of two Ukrainian missiles, as kyiv affirms, but the Kremlin denies.
US media such as Wall Street Journal, el New York Times and the chain CNN They quoted anonymous sources from the Pentagonaccording to which US intelligence reports indicate that the attack caused several deaths among the crew of the Moskva.
Likewise, these sources also indicated that lifeboats were in charge of picking up the survivors in the Black Sea.
The ship was hit by the missiles when it was regarding 65 nautical miles from Odessa (Ukraine). Afterwards, she managed to advance on her own for a few hours until she sank on Thursday.
Pentagon sources claimed that cruise missiles were on board the ship. “Now they are at the bottom of the Black Sea,” they added.
Russian ship details
The sinking of the Mosvká, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, is a severe setback for Russia.
According to the version of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the ship sank on Thursday in the middle of a storm when it was towed to port, already without its crew, who had been evacuated in other ships of the Black Sea fleet.
The ship’s armament included 16 Vulkan anti-ship missiles and 64 S-300F anti-aircraft missiles in eight launchers, as well as artillery, torpedoes and depth charges.
The Moskva was also equipped with a Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopter.
With a length of 186.5 meters, a beam of 20.8 meters and a displacement of 11,490 tons, the ship, which reached a maximum speed of 30 knots, was launched in 1979 and four years later entered service in the Soviet Navy. with the name “Slava” (glory).