The biggest blow since the start of the war with Ukraine was admitted, Moscow late Thursday night as the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the flagship of the Russian fleet "Moskva" finally sank during its tow.
This was preceded by a thriller over the condition of the cruiser, which the Ukrainians claim was attacked by Neptune missiles.
The Russians attributed the strike to an explosion of ammunition after a fire broke out on board for unknown reasons, and during the day they said they were towing the vessel to safety. However, late Thursday night they were forced to admit to the heavy loss.
This is the largest warship to be sunk in wartime since World War II.
The 186-meter-long ship, with about 500 men and dozens of missiles, entered service in the early 1980s. Indeed, it was built in what is now Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.
It may have been an old ship, but it is obvious that the Russian leadership would not want to suffer such a blow after seven weeks of war, and it is already being criticised for what it has not achieved on the Ukrainian front in the last 50 days.
According to what the Russian think tank Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies wrote on Telegram, Ukrainian forces distracted the Russian ship and disoriented its crew using drones before hitting it with Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles fired from the coast east of Odessa.
A blow to Russia's prestige
If Kiev's claims that they "hit" Moskva with missiles are confirmed, it would be a serious blow to Russia and a shot in the arm for Ukraine's morale.
In terms of prestige, the Moskva was the flagship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea and by definition a "flagship" is the most important ship of a fleet and always carries the commander of the PN forces operating in the region.
This ship has led the Black Sea Fleet since 2000. It was "a symbol of Russian naval power," Michael Patterson, director of the Institute of Russian Naval Studies in the US, told the BBC, and - as he points out - has been a "thorn" in Ukraine's south since the invasion began.
According to Patterson, the Ukrainians have managed to achieve a not insignificant victory at sea. "And I think this is something that has symbolic value" for all of the above reasons, but also of particular importance on a strategic and military level.
What it means at the operational level
As he says, the Ukrainians lost most of their navy to the Russians in 2014 during the annexation of Crimea, so if they did indeed hit Moskva it means that "they are still able to hit the Russian military machine in ways that will hurt Moscow."
He also adds that there may be "significant military value" in such a strike, because "the Russian navy may appreciate that it will have to operate more openly now than before" i.e. further from the coast.
"This may affect its ability to provide support to troops ashore and may hamper their ability to provide air defense in coastal areas."
It is noted that Russia's Black Sea fleet supported the war with the ability to launch cruise missiles anywhere in Ukraine and was instrumental in supporting Russian efforts to capture Mariupol.
What was the Russian flagship
The first war the Moskva was involved in was the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008. Russia has not provided information about its missions, but according to a senior Georgian officer, the Russian cruiser entered the port of Ochamchire to bombard Georgian military forces in the Kodori Valley, who then lost control of the last zone they still held in the separatist region of Abkhazia.
Russia's then-President Dmitry Medvedev had expressed his "gratitude" to the crew of the warship for their "courage and determination" during the conflict.
Following Russia's intervention on Bashar al-Assad's side in the war in Syria, the Moskva was deployed from September 2015 to January 2016 in the eastern Mediterranean to ensure, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, the "anti-aircraft defense" of the Russian base at Khmeimim.
Shortly afterwards, Vladimir Putin decorated the entire crew with the Nakhimov Medal for their "courage and determination."
From Sevastopol, Crimea, which is the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva participated in Vladimir Putin's February 24, 2022 attack on Ukraine.
The cruiser Moskva, when still named Slava, participated in the Malta summit meeting between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George W. Bush, which took place aboard the Maxime Gorki in December 1989, immediately after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The ship also participated in the nuclear disarmament conference in Yalta in August 1990. It took part in military exercises and visited many European, Asian and African ports.
It also hosted foreign leaders. Vladimir Putin received there with military honours in August 2014 in Sochi the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi or, during his visit to Italy, the then Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi.
Source: in.gr
Contents of this article including associated images are belongs Cyprus Times
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or Cyprus Times
Source
