Russia still claims that damage to the Moskva was caused by a fire onboard. The ship later sank.
When the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, was badly damaged earlier this week, that it had struck it with two missiles, and Russia denied it, instead blaming the damage on a fire where ammunition on the ship was stored. While the Moskva was being towed to port, it sank, after it became unstable in stormy conditions because of the damage to the hull, the Russian Defense Ministry told the Russian state news service Tass. On Friday, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed that the Russian cruiser had been struck by two Neptune anti-ship missiles fired by the Ukrainians from land-based launchers.
