Conflicting reports have emerged from the Russians and Ukrainians about an incident involving a Russian warship in the Black Sea.
No evidence has been presented to support either statement, and CNN has not been able to independently verify what happened.
What the Russians say: The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Wednesday that the battleship Moskva had been evacuated after a fire on board exploded its ammunition depot, severely damaging the ship, according to Russian state media.
What Ukrainians say: A few hours earlier, the Odesa state regional administrator, Maxim Marchenko, announced in a Telegram post that Ukrainian forces hit the ship with a “Neptune” missile that severely damaged it.
Bad weather: Because large storms over the Black Sea obscure satellite imagery and sensor satellite data, CNN has not been able to visually confirm that the ship was impacted. The Russian Ministry of Defense also did not post any official statement on its Telegram channel acknowledging the evacuation or fire fighting on board.
Russian state media outlets TASS and RIA reported that the ship’s crew had been evacuated and the cause of the fire was still being determined. According to the Ministry of Defense, Moscow is a missile cruiser built and commissioned in 1982.
Satellite images by Maxar Technologies show the ship located just northwest of Sevastopol, Crimea on April 10.
