The Defense Forces of Ukraine took fire on the “Moskva” missile cruiser of Project 1164 – the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation.

It is reported by Militarnyi.

The explosion on the ship, the detonation of the ammunition, and the evacuation of the crew (approximately 500 sailors and officers) were confirmed by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. However, the defense department does not venture to name the reason for the destruction of “Moscow.”

Maksym Marchenko, Head of the Odessa Military Administration, claimed that “Moskva” was struck by the “Neptune” coastal missile system.

Oleg Boldyrev, an Ukroboronprom employee, shared the details:

Today, two missiles were fired at once, to overcome, in particular, the countermeasures of the Russian АК-630. The 630th is a six-barreled rate-firing cannon that should be shooting down the incoming missiles. Today, the cannon had fucked up, so both of our “ladies” have arrived on target.

Russian Telegram channels covering military topics are reporting, with reference to their sources, that the flagship of the Black Sea fleet sank:

The cruiser’s buoyancy was complicated by the weather conditions. According to preliminary information, as a result of all cumulative factors, the cruiser had unfortunately joined the “Roskomos” underwater satellite group.

According to their information, the missile had struck the left side. Before that, the attention of the ship was taken over by the Ukrainian Bayraktar TB2 UAV.

According to Operational Command South, after the hit of the cruise missiles “Neptune” “a powerful explosion of ammunition overturned the cruiser and it began to sink.”

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported on the day of 14 April that the cruiser “retained buoyancy” and the main missile weapons were not injured.

Facebook user Volodymyr Romanenko published segments of the conversations in which the Russian military sailors were discussing Ukrainian tactics.

“Moskva” Missile cruiser is a vessel that participated in the attack on the garrison of the Ukrainian Zmiinyi Island. It was the radio conversations with “Moskva” that brought the world the meme “Рускій воєнний корабль іді на хуй” (“Russian warship, go fuck yourself” – ed.).

Coincidentally, on the eve of the attack on “Moskva”, Supreme Commander Volodymyr Zelensky presented Ukrposhta’s new postage stamp depicting a Ukrainian warrior and “Moskva” cruiser.

“Moskva” missile cruiser is the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, it is the vessel of the “Atlant” project 1164. Ceremonial ship launching took place in Mykolayiv in 1979. It participated in the war against Georgia in 2008, and in Syria.

“Moskva” was the carrier of eight heavy anti-ship missiles P-1000 and eight anti-aircraft missiles of the sea-based S-300F air defense systems.

“Neptune” coastal missile system RК-360 MS was obtained by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on August 23, 2020.

“Neptune” system is equipped with R-360 cruise missiles that are flying at low altitudes at a range of about 300 km. The missile has launch buster and march (main) engines. The system includes unified launchers, transport-charging vehicles, transport vehicles, and a mobile command post.

The contract for the production of one battalion of the system was signed by the Ministry of Defense at the end of 2020.

Since March 2021, as part of one of the detachments of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there is an experimental operation of the system with a launcher and special vehicles from the KrAZ.

The first serial battalion of the system on the TATRA chassis was expected to arrive at the Navy by April 2022.

It was also reported about the beginning of production of the second battalion.