Its wreck lies at the bottom of the Black Sea, but its sinking still agitates the General Staffs.
The Moskva, flagship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, was probably sunk by two Ukrainian 'neptun' missiles, despite denials from the Kremlin on 13 April.
At the same time, an American spy plane reportedly flew over the area, according to the
Times
.
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Moskva
The British daily relies on open source data published by FlightRadar24.
The Boeing P8 Poseidon patrol boat, and anti-submarine warfare, AE681B, would have taken off from the American naval air base of Sigonella in Sicily.
It was then detected at 1:32 p.m. Kiev time, above the Mediterranean, before reaching the Romanian coast,
via
the Balkans and Bulgaria.
A US Navy P8 Poseidon.
Theron Kirkman / POOL / AFP
At 3:27 p.m., its position was recorded over Valea Nucarilor in Romania, nearly 20 km from the Ukrainian border and less than 100 miles from the Moskva.
Its transponder is deactivated, while the plane descended from a cruising altitude of 29,000 feet to 11,900.
For two hours and 56 minutes, his location is unknown.
It reappeared at 6:23 p.m. above the town of Casimcea in Romania, about 37 miles from its last position and disappeared after 19 minutes.
The P8 was spotted 42 minutes later, at 7:24 p.m., in southern Romania before returning to Sigonella.
At 8:42 p.m., a message posted on Facebook claimed that the Moskva had been hit.
At 10:31 p.m., the Ukrainian governor of Odessa gave the first official confirmation.
The Moskva in Sevastopol in 2013. STRINGER / REUTERS
In early April, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin admitted that the United States was providing intelligence to the Ukrainian military.
The P8 Poseidon is also armed with AGM-84 Harpoon and Mark 54 Torpedo anti-ship missiles.
Its French equivalent is the ATL2, deployed with the carrier battle group from February to April 2022, during the Clémenceau 2022 mission.