Conflicting information came from Russians and Ukrainians about an incident with a Russian warship in the Black Sea. No evidence has been found to support any of the allegations, and CNN is unable to independently verify what happened. What the Russians are saying: The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Wednesday that the warship Moskva was evacuated after a fire that ignited ammunition, causing serious damage to the ship, according to Russian state media. What the Ukrainians say: Hours earlier, the regional administrator of the state of Odessa, Maxim Martchenko, claimed in a Telegram post that Ukrainian forces had hit the ship with “Neptune” missiles, causing serious damage to it. Bad weather: Due to heavy storms over the Black Sea disguising satellite images and sensory satellite data, CNN could not visually confirm the ship’s impact. The Russian Defense Ministry has also not published any official statement on the Telegram channel acknowledging the evacuation or fire on the ship. Russian state media TASS and RIA reported that the ship’s crew was evacuated and that the cause of the fire was still being determined. According to the Ministry of Defense, Moskva is a missile cruiser built and launched in 1982. Satellite images from Maxar Technologies showed the ship just northwest of Sevastopol, in the Crimea, on April 10.
