Russian missile cruiser damaged as ammo on board explodes
Satellite images released on Wednesday (April 13) showed the Moskva Russian missile cruiser in the port of Sevastopol before it was damaged by an ammunition blast.
The images, released by Maxar Technologies, show the vessel in and around Sevastopol on April 7 and April 10.
Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, was badly damaged when ammunition on board blew up, Interfax news agency quoted the defence ministry as saying on Thursday (April 14).
The blast is yet another military setback for Russia, which has suffered a series of blows since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what Moscow calls a "special military operation" to "denazify" the country.
Interfax said all the crew had been evacuated. It cited the ministry as blaming the blast on fire and said the cause was being investigated.
A Ukrainian official earlier said the Moskva had been hit by two anti-ship missiles but did not give any evidence. The 12,500-tonne ship usually has a crew of around 500.
Although Ukrainian officials initially said all 13 guards had died in the subsequent Russian attack, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later said some of them survived.
Maksym Marchenko, governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, earlier said the Moskva had been hit by two Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles but did not provide evidence.
Last month Ukraine said it had destroyed a large Russian landing support ship, the Orsk, on the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast of the Black Sea. Moscow has not commented on what had happened to the ship.
