Interfax reported that the crew had been evacuated. He blamed the blast on a fire and said the cause was being investigated. A Ukrainian official said earlier that Moskva had been hit by two rockets, but gave no evidence. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register The 12,500-ton ship has a crew of about 500. Russian news agencies reported that the Moskva was armed with 16 Vulkan cruise missiles, which have a range of at least 700 km (440 miles). “As a result of the fire on the Moskva cruise missile, ammunition was fired. The ship was severely damaged,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. “The crew was completely evacuated.” Interfax did not provide further details. Maksym Marchenko, the governor of the area around the Black Sea port of Odessa, said earlier in an online post that two anti-ship missiles hit the cruiser, but did not provide any information. Last month, Ukraine said it had destroyed a large Russian landing aid ship, the Orsk, in the smaller Azov Sea northeast of the Black Sea. Moscow did not comment on what happened to the ship. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report by David Ljunggren. Editors: Muralikumar Anantharaman, Stephen Coates and Neil Fullick Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
