Sunken flagship "Moskva": Mystery about crew - now Russia publishes video
Created: 04/18/2022, 06:05
By: Florian Naumann, Kathrin Reikowski, Michelle Brey
Heavy blow for Russia's navy in the Ukraine war: the warship "Moskva" sank.
However, there are different opinions about the background.
Russian flagship Moskva sank
: The warship sank after a fire, the Kremlin confirmed.
Russia can now "forget" about the attack on Odessa, says a Finnish expert.
The loss of the ship could therefore have consequences for the Russian strategy.
Ukraine expects "revenge" from Russia
, the country claims to have sunk the Moskva with rocket hits.
This news ticker about the Moskva is continuously updated.
Update from April 16, 7:55 p.m .:
After the sinking of the Russian missile cruiser “Moskva” in the Black Sea, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow published a video intended to show members of the crew.
Russian Navy Commander-in-Chief Nikolai Yevmenov met with the sailors in Sevastopol, the agency said.
The Russian Black Sea Fleet has its main base in the city on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
The nearly half-minute clip features dozens of young men in black uniforms.
How many there are exactly is difficult to estimate due to sequences that have been edited together.
On Twitter, some users said that it could not be the approximately 500 crew members who are said to have been on the "Moskva" at the time of the accident.
So far, Russia has not given any official information about the casualties in the downing of the ship.
As with much information about the Ukraine war, these video images cannot be clearly verified.
Moskva: Ukrainian stamp gets cult status - long queues in front of the post office
Update from April 16, 1:42 p.m
.: A Ukrainian stamp that was issued at the beginning of the Ukraine war led to long queues in front of a Kiev post office on Friday.
For the Ukrainians, it symbolized resistance - and since the sinking of the "Moskva" it has taken on a new meaning.
The stamp shows a Ukrainian soldier giving the middle finger to a Russian warship.
The background story of the motif: In February, the now sunk "Moskva" attacked the Ukrainian Snake Island near the Romanian border.
Radio communications with the Ukrainian border guards on the island went viral: When asked to surrender, the border guards replied, "F..ck you".
The radio message went around the world.
Then, in early March, the Ukrainian Post announced a competition to commemorate the event.
After more than 500 suggestions, the illustration by artist Boris Groh was chosen.
It shows a Ukrainian soldier giving a middle finger to a Russian ship on yellow sand.
According to the Ukrainian Post, replenishments for the stamp cannot be printed at the moment.
The operation of the factory is currently disrupted by Russian attacks.
Moskva: Has Russia confirmed the captain's death?
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian State Border Service reports that the Russian Defense Ministry has confirmed the death of the captain, Anton Kuprin.
However, there are no further confirmations from Russia.
Ukraine after the Moskva sinks: Russian captain is said to have died in the attack
Update from April 16, 8:44 a.m
.: According to reports from n-tv, the death of the Moskva captain has now been confirmed by the Ukrainian side.
Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, wrote in his Telegram channel: "Anton Kuprin, captain 1st rank, commander of the cruiser 'Moskva' died in an explosion and fire on board the former flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet."
So far, the USA has only confirmed that there have been fatalities from Ukrainian rocket fire, but there is no information from the USA on the number of fatalities.
Independent reports on the whereabouts of the crew are still completely lacking.
USA: Russia's warship Moskva hit by Ukrainian missiles - anonymous report
Update from April 16, 6:51 a.m
.: The Russian warship "Moskva" was hit by Ukrainian "Neptun" rockets.
The United States is now saying the same thing: A representative of the US Department of Defense, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed the Ukrainian version on Friday - in contrast to the Russian version, which had long spoken of explosions or storm damage.
A Russian sailor (l) salutes at the bow of the missile cruiser "Moskva".
© Pavel Golovkin/AP/dpa
With a view to the approximately 500-strong crew, there are new reports from Ukraine: According to Russian information, the crew could be evacuated before the ship sank.
However, a Ukrainian military spokeswoman said that was not the case and the crew could not be rescued.
So far, there have been no independently verified reports on this.
After the Moskva sinks on Russian TV: Duma deputy has strange dropouts
Update from April 15, 10:30 p.m .:
Although, according to Russian information, the warship “Moskva” is said to have sunk as a result of a fire and a storm, former Duma MP Vladimir Bortko, according to an English translation on state TV, said the incident was a reason to hit back harder.
Now it could even come to "war".
Curiously, the filmmaker's tirade briefly lacks the correct term, which in Russia officially describes the invasion of Ukraine.
Only the moderator helps him on the jumps: military special operation.
According to Bortko, this was exactly what ended with the attack on “Russian territory” and war is now raging.
Update from April 15, 8:04 p.m .:
The US government has supported information from Kiev that the sunken Russian warship “Moskva” was the target of Ukrainian missiles.
"We can confirm that the Russian ship Moskva was hit by two Ukrainian Neptun missiles," a senior Defense Department official said in Washington on Friday.
On Thursday, the ministry was still reluctant to make an assessment.
"Moskva": Ukraine expects "revenge" from Russia - "They will not forgive us"
Update from April 15, 7:38 p.m .:
According to Ukrainian belief, Russia will take revenge for the sinking of the Russian warship “Moskva”.
"The attack on the cruiser Moskva hit not only the ship itself, but also the imperial ambitions of the enemy," a spokeswoman for Ukraine's Southern Armed Forces said on Friday.
"We are all aware that we will not be forgiven for this."
“We are aware that the attacks against us will increase and that the enemy will take revenge.
We understand that," added the military spokeswoman, referring to attacks on the southern Ukrainian cities of Odessa and Mykolaiv. Other ships tried to help the "Moskva" after the Ukrainian attack, "but the forces of nature were also on the side of Ukraine, because the storm made both the rescue operation and the evacuation of the crew impossible," the spokeswoman said.
The reference to the storm raises further questions: The weather expert Jörg Kachelmann, known in Germany, had denied that there had been a storm on the Black Sea (
see update from 12.55 p.m.
).
"Moskva" sunk: Turkish drones involved?
According to experts, Russia can now “forget” the Odessa attack
Update from April 15, 6:45 p.m.:
Did drones play a bigger role in sinking the Russian flagship “Moskva”?
According to information from the US magazine
Forbes
, several sources suggest that Turkish drones of the Bayraktar type were involved in a Ukrainian attack.
Russia had complained to Turkey about the delivery of the systems.
Finnish Russia and military expert Jyri Lavikainen also doubts that simple human error could have started a fire on the warship.
It was very clear that not just "someone flicked a cigarette butt on the bottom deck," he said, according to the
hbl.fi
portal .
“The fire broke out when a Ukrainian missile hit the ship.
The ammunition store is the most protected spot on a warship.”
Lavikainen also considers a connection with a drone attack to be likely.
There are reports that Ukraine has disrupted air defenses with drones - the crew may have therefore not drawn their attention to a missile attack.
According to Forbes, however, there are doubts about this thesis: the ship had two separate defense systems.
In any case, the Finnish expert sees major effects of the Moskva sinking: Russia can now "forget" an attack on Odessa, Lavikainen stated.
The focus could now be all the more on eastern Ukraine and Mariupol.
A major Russian offensive* is already underway there.
Update from April 15, 6 p.m.:
The “Moskva” has sunk – a severe symbolic blow, and not just for Vladimir Putin.
What is behind the sinking of the ship?
A Western government representative suspects "incompetence" as a contributing factor.
Update from April 15, 12:55 p.m .:
The Russian missile cruiser “Moskva” is said to have gone down during a storm on Thursday, the state agency Tass reported, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense
(update from April 15, 10:55 a.m.).
But how much truth is there to this message?
"The Moskva certainly did not sink because of a storm, because there was no storm," weather expert Jörg Kachelmann wrote on Twitter and showed a corresponding wind map.
Russian warship "Moskva" sunk: nasty Putin mockery follows
Update from April 15, 10:55 a.m .:
The flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser “Moskva”, has fallen according to information from Moscow
(update from April 14, 10:03 p.m.)
.
The stricken ship went down during a storm on Thursday while it was to be towed to its destination, state agency TASS reported, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.
There was a lot of mockery and malice surrounding the ship on social media.
For example, someone tweeted a cartoon showing Russia's President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the burning ship in the world-famous "Titanic" scene by Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
A stamp is also being celebrated, with which Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had recently shown himself: it depicts a Ukrainian soldier pointing the middle finger at the Russian flagship.
Montages are shared, now showing the scenery without the ship.
There is also a joke about a "special underwater operation".
"Moskva" sank according to a report - flagship of the Black Sea Fleet
Update from April 14, 10:03 p.m.:
New developments around the “Moskva”.
The stricken Russian missile cruiser has sunk, according to a report by the state agency TASS.
The report is based on information from the Russian Defense Ministry.
The Black Sea Fleet's flagship went down during a storm on Thursday.
Ukrainian military had previously reported that the ship had been hit by an anti-ship missile (see initial report).
First report:
Kiev/Munich – The acts of war by Russian troops in Ukraine seem to have continued relentlessly on day 50 since the invasion.
The Russian Navy apparently suffered a heavy blow on Thursday.
The flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet has been badly damaged.
While the reason - fire or rocket impact - is still being debated, it is already clear that the naval war will probably become more difficult for the Russians in the escalated Ukraine conflict.
The stricken Russian missile cruiser Moskva has sunk, according to Russian sources.
(Archive image from 2015 in Syria) © Zhang Jiye/XinHua/dpa
Russian flagship "Moskva": Sunk or "heavily damaged"?
While Moscow spoke of a munitions explosion on the missile cruiser Moskva, the Ukrainian side said they attacked the warship with missiles late on Wednesday evening.
The Russian flagship "Moskva" together with other ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet blocked the besieged port city of Mariupol.
Russian state media, citing the Defense Ministry, reported that the warship was "severely damaged."
It is one of the greatest material losses for the Russian army since the Russian invasion led by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin on February 24.
According to the governor of the southern Ukrainian region of Odessa, Maxym Marchenko, the "Moskva" was attacked with Ukrainian "Neptun"-type missiles.
Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Oleksiy Arestovych said the most important ship in the Russian Black Sea Fleet was on fire.
Russian flagship in the Ukraine war: According to the Pentagon, "Moskva" has not sunk
The Russian Ministry of Defense later announced that the "Moskva" had not sunk.
“There is no open fire.
The ammunition explosions have stopped.
The cruiser Moskva remains afloat,” the ministry said.
The ship's "main missile armament" was not damaged.
The crew had been evacuated and taken to nearby ships in the Black Sea, the ministry said.
The "Moskva" should now be towed into the port.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told
CNN
Thursday afternoon that the Moskva was not sunk but was badly damaged.
"Moskva": This is the warship of the Russian Navy - details
The
"Moskva"
was built
in Soviet times
and, according to Russian media reports , went
into operation in 1983
.
August 2008:
The ship was deployed in Georgia for the first time in an armed conflict.
2015:
According to the Russian news agency Tass, the warship with its 510 crew members was deployed in the eastern Mediterranean to protect the Russian Hmeimim air force base in Syria.
2018 and 2020:
According to the Ria Nowosti news agency, the ship was extensively overhauled and modernized twice.
In the Ukraine War:
At the beginning of the Russian war of aggression, the ship attacked the Ukrainian island of Snakes, located near the Romanian border.
Radio communications with the Ukrainian border guards on the island went viral: When asked to surrender, the border guards replied, "F..ck you".
Shortly thereafter, the "Moskva" and the ship "Vassily Bykov" shelled the island, the Ukrainian soldiers were captured.
Equipment
: 16 Basalt/Wulkan anti-ship missiles, Osa and short-range missiles, rocket launchers and torpedoes.
War in Ukraine: Mariupol on the Sea of Azov as a strategically important city
According to experts, Moscow's goal is to establish a direct land connection between the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed in 2014, and the areas in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
The port city of Mariupol, located on the Sea of Azov, is considered strategically decisive - the role of the ship "Moskva" is not insignificant.
Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boichenko on Thursday (April 14, 2022) dismissed Russian claims about the capture of the port in the city.
"I consider it a hoax," said Boitschenko in the ARD morning show.
"We are firmly convinced that Mariupol was, is and will remain a Ukrainian city," emphasized Boitschenko, who was connected via video.
The port city has been under siege since February 24th.
The city, which once had over 400,000 inhabitants, has now been largely destroyed.
The humanitarian situation is catastrophic.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of "tens of thousands" dead in the siege.
(mbr with dpa and AFP)