The Moskva is named after Russia’s capital and was at the center of a widely reported attack on Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island in the Black Sea in February, shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. The guards drew global attention for insulting Russian troops during the early days of the invasion. At roughly 600 feet long, the guided missile cruiser is a large target. It was armed with 16 anti-ship missiles and was originally built to destroy U.S. aircraft carriers. According to Russia’s Tass news agency, the Moskva entered service in 1983 and carried a revered Christian relic, a piece of the True Cross, upon which some believe Jesus was crucified. The wood-chip relic, several millimeters long, was embedded in a 19th-century metal cross and stored on the ship, an archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church told Tass in 2020.

What did Ukraine say happened?

Ukraine’s military has said its forces fired Neptune anti-ship missiles at the Moskva, causing a large explosion of munitions that eventually sent the flagship to the bottom during a storm. A U.S. defense official said the claim was plausible. Ukraine began developing the Neptune missile in 2013 as a deterrent against Russian sea power off its southeastern coast. It is based on an older Russian model, the KH-35, which Ukraine was also involved in producing. Fired from a truck-mounted launcher, the missile has a maximum range of 173 to 186 miles. In a nightly address on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised his compatriots for withstanding 50 days of war against Russia. He said Ukraine’s military has shown “that Russian ships can go … to the bottom only.” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov also tweeted Friday mocking the incident. “We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war,” he said.

What did Russia say happened?

Moscow offered a competing claim about the cause of the destruction, stating that the Moskva was damaged after a fire broke out. Russia said a fire onboard caused ammunition stocks to detonate, forcing the evacuation of most of its 500-person crew. As the Moskva was being towed to port, it sank because of a “heavy storm,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. It was not clear whether any crew members died in the incident.

What has the United States said about the matter?

U.S. officials said Thursday that Ukrainian forces triggered a “significant explosion” as the vessel floated off the coast of Ukraine, largely confirming Kyiv’s claims. Earlier in the day, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan called the damage to the ship a setback for Russia regardless of how it was disabled. Either it was “just incompetence” or “they came under attack,” he said. “Neither is a particularly good outcome for them.” Russia this week sent a formal diplomatic note to the United States warning that U.S. and NATO shipments of the “most sensitive” weapons systems to Ukraine were “adding fuel” to the conflict and could bring “unpredictable consequences.” The loss of the Moskva, which served as a command vessel and air defense node, means Russia will have to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea, the British Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update Friday.

A day after the ship sank, a bruised Russia appeared to hit back as its Defense Ministry warned in an update that Moscow would step up attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, in retaliation for the targeting of Russian territory or assets. “The number and scale of airstrikes on Kyiv site will be increased in response to any attacks committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime of terrorist and subversive nature on the territory of the Russian Federation,” it said. Moscow also claimed to have struck a factory just outside the capital overnight. It said Ukraine’s state-owned Vizar Zhulyany machine-building pant was making “anti-ship missiles,” among other weapons. The Washington Post could not independently verify that claim. Meanwhile, up to five Russian warships in the northern Black Sea have moved south — away from the Ukrainian coastline, according to the Pentagon — after the Moskva sank. Those Russian ships were “as close or closer” to the Ukrainian coast as the Moskva, about 75 miles from Odessa, it added. The apparent ability of Ukrainian troops to threaten Russian vessels at long range may force the Kremlin to be more cautious in the waters off southern Ukraine, military experts have told The Post as the Russian navy seeks to prevent another potential attack from Ukrainian coastal defenses. Mary Ilyushina, Dan Lamothe, Claire Parker, Andrew Jeong, Reis Thebault and Maite Fernández Simon contributed to this report.

Europe

What happened to the Russian flagship Moskva?

By Adela Suliman

April 15, 2022 at 9:39 a.m. EDT

The Russian missile cruiser Moskva during exercises in the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea in February. (Russian Defense Ministry/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

The Moskva, a premier warship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, sank Thursday amid competing claims from Russia and Ukraine about how it met its watery end.

An explosion occurred late Wednesday, when the ship was roughly 75 miles from Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odessa, a senior U.S. defense official told The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the Pentagon. Odessa’s governor and Ukrainian military officials said the Moskva was hit by a Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missile strike.

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The Russian flagship in the Black Sea sustained severe damage and sank on its way back to port Thursday, a major symbolic blow to Moscow as the invasion of Ukraine continued into its eighth week.

Russia says flagship missile cruiser has sunk after explosion off coast of Ukraine

Experts say Ukraine’s claim of a successful strike is more credible than the explanations emerging from Moscow, and the episode has significantly buoyed the morale of Ukrainian forces, who have resisted the Russian invasion for more than 50 days.

Russia’s Defense Ministry warned in an update Friday that it would step up attacks on Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, in retaliation for the targeting of Russian territory or assets, while five Russian warships in the northern Black Sea appeared to move south — away from the Ukrainian coastline, according to the Pentagon.

Ukrainians, meanwhile, mocked the ship online and rushed to buy a postage stamp commemorating an earlier incident involving the vessel. The stamp depicts a Ukrainian fighter holding up a middle finger in front of the Russian ship.

What happened to the Russian flagship Moskva?

War in Ukraine: What you need to know