In the past few hours, accounts specialized in military news and open sources of information on social networking sites "Twitter" published pictures and video of plumes of smoke rising from the Russian cruiser "Moskva", which sank last Thursday due to an explosion of its ammunition, according to the official Russian version, while Ukraine said that " Moskva, the main ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, sank as it was hit by two Ukrainian "Neptune" missiles, an anti-ship missile.
Short video purportedly showing the Moskva cruiser (published on telegram) – matches pictures circulating on social media pic.twitter.com/TAuwPFDJUg
— Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) April 18, 2022
The Russian cruiser was off the Ukrainian coast, where the Russian Navy imposed a blockade of Ukrainian ports.
In explaining the sinking of the cruiser Moskva, the Russian Defense Ministry said last Thursday that the cruiser sank during the process of towing due to a storm and bad weather conditions.
Ukrainian forces had announced targeting the Russian cruiser with two anti-ship missiles, and Kyiv described the sinking of the Russian cruiser as the largest loss for the Russian fleet since World War II.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN that the sinking of "Moskva" is a major blow to the Russian fleet, noting that it is a major part of Russia's efforts to exercise a kind of naval control in the Black Sea.