FILE – In this photo provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, the Russian missile cruiser Moskva is patrolling the Mediterranean Sea near the Syrian coast on December 17, 2015.
AP
hide captions
switch captions
AP
FILE – In this photo provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, the Russian missile cruiser Moskva is patrolling the Mediterranean Sea near the Syrian coast on December 17, 2015.
AP
KYIV, Ukraine – A day after Moscow suffered a symbolic defeat with the loss of the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday promised to step up missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital. in response to Ukraine’s alleged military diversions “aimed at the Russians. the territory.”
The increased risk of attacks on Kyiv comes after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of carrying out air strikes on residential buildings in Bryansk, which borders Ukraine, injuring seven people. . Authorities in another Russian border region also reported shelling in Ukraine on Thursday.
Life in Kyiv is slowly returning to normal after Russia failed to capture the capital and withdrew its troops in northern Ukraine to focus on a concentrated offensive in the east of the country. A fresh wave of bombardment could send townspeople sheltering in subway stations and the constant blaring of air raid sirens.
Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the attack targets in Russia and the Russian authorities’ reports cannot be independently verified. However, Ukrainian officials claim their forces hit a key Russian warship with a missile on Thursday. If true, the statement would represent an important victory.
The guided-missile cruiser Moskva, named after the Russian capital, sank while being towed back to port after sustaining extensive damage under still-disputed circumstances. Moscow acknowledged a fire on the ship but not any attacks. Other American and Western officials could not confirm what caused the fire.
Moscow is capable of carrying 16 long-range cruise missiles, and its removal reduces Russia’s firepower in the Black Sea. The warship’s loss in an invasion that is widely seen as a historic mistake was also a symbolic defeat for Moscow as its troops rallied for an offensive in eastern Ukraine. after retreating from much of the north.
In the first days of the war, the crew of the Moskva is said to have called on Ukrainian troops stationed on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender in a stalemate. A widely circulated recording shows a Ukrainian soldier replying: “Russian warship, go on your own (do your best).”
The AP was unable to independently verify the Snake Island incident, but Ukraine and its supporters see it as a symbolic moment of defiance. The country recently published a postage stamp commemorating it.
If Ukraine were to attack Moscow with missiles, this cruiser would potentially represent the largest warship sunk since the Falklands War in 1982, which saw a similarly sized cruiser named the The ARA General Belgrano was torpedoed by a British submarine, killing more than 300 sailors on board.
In his nightly address on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian onslaught when the invaders “give us a maximum of five years.” “.
Listing the ways Ukraine had defended against the onslaught, Zelenskyy mentioned “those who showed that a Russian warship can go far, even when it is on the seabed”. It was his only reference to Moscow.
News of the flagship overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where Moscow’s forces have been fighting the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion for several years. the fiercest fighting – at a terrible cost to the civilian population.
The dwindling Ukrainian defenders in Mariupol are battling a siege that has trapped more than 100,000 civilians in dire need of food, water and heating. David Beasley, executive director of the UN’s World Food Program, told the AP in an interview Thursday that people are being “starved” in the besieged city.
Mayor Mariupol this week said more than 10,000 civilians have died and the death toll could surpass 20,000.
The capture of Mariupol is very important to Russia as it will allow its forces to the south, through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with the military in the Donbas region, the industrial heartland. eastern Ukraine and is the target of an attack lurking.
According to a senior US defense official, the Russian military continues to transfer helicopters and other equipment for such an effort, and is likely to soon add more ground combat units. But it remains unclear when Russia might launch a full-blown operation in the Donbas.
Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukraine in the region since 2014, the same year Russia occupied Crimea. Russia recognized the independence of the rebel regions in the Donbas.
Maksym Marchenko, governor of the Odesa region, said Ukrainian forces hit Moscow with two Neptune missiles and inflicted “serious damage.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said ammunition on board exploded as a result of a fire, but did not say what caused the fire. It said the “main missile armament” was undamaged and the crew, which usually numbered around 500, abandoned the ship. It is not clear if there were any casualties. In addition to cruise missiles, warships also have anti-aircraft missiles and other artillery.
Neptune is an anti-ship missile recently developed by Ukraine based on the previous Soviet design. The truck-mounted launchers are stationed near the coast and, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, can hit targets up to 280 kilometers (175 miles) away. That would put Moscow in range, based on where the ship was when the fire started.
Launched as Slava in 1979, the cruiser served during the Cold War and conflicts in Georgia and Syria, and helped conduct peacetime scientific research with the United States. During the Cold War, it carried nuclear weapons.
British defense officials say the disappearance of the Moskva will likely force Moscow to change the way its navy operates in the Black Sea. In a social media post on Friday, the UK’s Ministry of Defense said the ship, which returned to service last year after a major refit, “plays an important role as a command and control vessel. air defense.”
The sinking “means that Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since its invasion of Ukraine, the first being the Russian Alligator-class amphibious assault ship Saratov on March 24. Both of these events are likely to cause Russia to rethink its maritime posture in the Black Sea. British Ministry said.
On Thursday, other Russian ships north of the Black Sea moved further south in the wake of the Moscow incident, a senior US defense official said on condition of anonymity to discuss internal military assessments. set.
While the United States could not confirm Ukraine’s claim of the attack on the warship, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan called it “a huge blow to Russia.”
“They had to choose between two stories: One that it was just incompetence, and the other that they were attacked, and neither of which was a particularly good outcome for them,” said Sullivan. told the Economic Club of Washington.
Russia invaded on 24th February and potentially lost thousands of fighters. The conflict has killed countless Ukrainian civilians and caused millions more to flee.
It also drives up prices at grocery stores and petrol pumps even further, and drags on the global economy. The head of the International Monetary Fund on Thursday said the war had helped push the organization to downgrade economic forecasts for 143 countries.
