The Moskva is the flagship of the Russian navy
The Russian warship that attacked the iconic Snake Island defenders has had to be evacuated after it was badly damaged in an explosion.
According to a Ukrainian official, the Moskva was hit by a cruise missile attack.
All 500 of the ship’s crew were saved according to the Russian defence ministry, which has claimed that the explosion was caused by ammunition exploding during a fire, Sky News reports.
“It has been confirmed that the missile cruiser Moskva today went exactly where it was sent by our border guards on Snake Island!” the regional governor of Odesa Maksym Marchenko said.
The Ukrainian military said that two Neptune missiles were used in the attack, according to Ukrainian media.
Maksym Marchenko, head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, writes:
"It has been confirmed that the missile cruiser "Moskva" today went exactly where it was sent by our border guards on Snake Island!
Neptune missiles … caused very serious damage to the Russian ship." pic.twitter.com/xBzYuQ3m5I— Michael MacKay (@mhmck) April 13, 2022
The Russian warship is best-known for being told by Ukrainian soldiers defending Snake Island to “go f*** yourself.”
It had been thought that the 13 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in the aftermath, but it was later revealed that they were in fact alive and had been taken prisoner. They were then freed.
Prof Michael Petersen, director of the Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the US Naval War College, told Radio 4’s Today programme that the news of the attack on the warship has “symbolic and military value.”
He told the programme: “This is the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, and it’s getting a bit long in the tooth but it is the symbol of Russian naval power in the Black Sea.”
He added that by damaging the flagship vessel the “Russian navy may feel obligated to operate further off-shore now than they were previously,” and that he thought it will “make the Russian navy think twice.”
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