State media TASS and RIA, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, reported that Moscow was severely damaged in the incident and that the causes of the fire are being investigated. The Russian reports did not provide information on possible victims. Hours earlier, however, a Ukrainian official claimed that the Russian warship had been hit by cruise missiles fired from Ukraine. Due to heavy storms over the Black Sea disguising satellite images and satellite data, CNN could not visually confirm the ship’s impact or current condition, but analysts said a fire on such a ship could lead to catastrophic explosion that could sink it. Whatever the cause of the fire, analysts say it severely damages the heart of the Russian navy as well as national pride, comparable to the U.S. Navy that lost a battleship during World War II or an aircraft carrier today. “Only the loss of a submarine-launched ballistic missile or Kutznetsov (Russia’s only aircraft carrier) would deal a serious blow to Russian morale and the navy’s reputation,” said Carl Schuster, a retired former US Navy chief of operations and at the US Pacific Joint Information Center. Alessio Patalano, a professor of war and strategy at King’s College London, said the loss of the warship would be a “massive blow” to Russia. “Ships operate out of the public eye and their activities are seldom in the news. But they are large floating pieces of national territory, and when you lose one, a flagship no less, the political and symbolic message – apart from the military the loss “It stands out precisely because of her,” he said. The 611-foot-long Moskva (186 meters), with a crew of almost 500 people, is the pride of the Russian navy in the Black Sea. It was originally commissioned by the Soviet Navy as Slava in the 1980s, renamed Moskva in 1995, and rebuilt in 1998, according to the military website Naval-Technology.com. Moskva is armed with a range of anti-aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles as well as torpedoes and naval firearms and missile defense systems. All this represents huge amounts of explosive devices in its ammunition cartridges. Any fire approaching them would give the crew limited options to deal with the threat, Schuster said. “When a fire reaches your ammunition cartridges, you have two options: 1) flood them or 2) leave the ship,” Schuster said. “Otherwise your crew is going to disappear from the catastrophic explosion that follows a fire that reaches several hundred tons of ammunition.” Odessa regional governor Maxim Martchenko claimed in a Telegram post that Ukrainian forces had used Neptune cruise missiles to attack Moscow. If that were true, the Moskva would potentially be the largest warship ever to go off a missile battle, Schuster said. Such an achievement would represent a major step forward for the Kiev forces. The Neptune is a Ukrainian weapon developed domestically based on the Soviet KH-35 cruise missile. It became operational in the Ukrainian forces only last year, according to reports in the Ukrainian media. If used for the Moskva attack, it would be the first known use of Poseidon during the war, according to a post on the International Maritime Safety Center (CIMSEC) website by Lieutenant Cmdr. Jason Lancaster, U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer. A post on CIMSEC on Tuesday said the threat posed by land-based mobile cruise missiles such as Poseidon was “changing the operational behavior” of an enemy. “Russian ships will operate in ways that minimize the risk of spotting and maximize their chances of defense,” Lancaster wrote. “These behavioral changes limit Russia’s ability to use its fleet to its advantage. The added stress of sudden combat increases fatigue and can lead to mistakes.” According to Patalano, the war professor: “It seems that the Russians learned the hard way today.” In the CIMSEC post, Lancaster notes that the British Royal Navy lost many ships to rocket launches fired by Argentina during the 1982 Falklands War. During this war, a British submarine sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, a former World War II U.S. Navy ship similar in size to the Moskva. Moskva is also symbolic for Ukraine, as it was one of the ships involved in the famous Snake Island swap in February, according to Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. According to an alleged exchange of sound in late February, as the Russians approached the Ukrainian garrison on Snake Island, also known as the Black Sea island of Zmiinyi, a Russian officer said: “This is a military warship. This is a Russian military warship. “I suggest you drop your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and unnecessary losses. Otherwise, you will be bombed.” A Ukrainian soldier replied: “Russian warship, go alone.” If Moskva is lost, it will be the second largest Russian warship to have this fate during Moscow’s war with Ukraine. In late March, Ukraine said a missile strike had destroyed a Russian landing craft in the port of Berdyansk.
