Russia’s Black Sea flagship Moskva, which sank after an explosion off the southern coast of Ukraine, April 14, 2022

Thursday’s Coverage: Russia’s Flagship Sinks After Reported Ukraine Missile Strike

UPDATE 1940 GMT:

In their ongoing crackdown on independent media, Russian authorities have blocked the websites of Radio France Internationale and the Russian-language service of the Moscow Times.

RFI has responded by setting up a mirror site which Russians can reach.

The authorities also designated journalist and Youtuber Yury Dud and political analyst Ekaterina Schulmann as “foreign agents”.

UPDATE 1930 GMT:

Concern is growing over the possible death toll on the Russian flagship Moskva, as authorities release little information about the explosion and sinking.

Ukrainian officials said earlier that the warship’s captain had been killed in the explosion and fire (see 1535 GMT).

UPDATE 1905 GMT:

Using long-range Kalibr missiles, Russia has attacked the military factory near Kyiv which makes the Neptune anti-ship missiles reportedly used to sink the Russian flagship Moskva.

A workshop and an administrative building at the Vizar plant, near Kyiv’s international Zhuliany airport, were seriously damaged.

The owner of a nearby wood workship said, “There were five hits. My employee was in the office and got thrown off his feet by the blast. They are making us pay for destroying the Moskva.”

The attack was the first major Russian strike around the capital in more than two weeks.

UPDATE 1900 GMT:

The head of Kharkiv’s regional military administration said seven people, including a small child, have been killed and 34 wounded by Russian air strikes.

[UPDATE, 2142 GMT: The death toll has risen to 10.]

Regional governor Vitaliy Kim says five people have been killed by shelling of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

Kim said cluster munitions were used.

UPDATE 1840 GMT:

The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the Kyiv region after the withdrawal of Russian forces.

Almost all of the dead, abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials, had been shot. Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv’s regional police force, gave a figure of 95%.

The toll is double that announced by Ukrainian authorities almost two weeks ago.

Nebytov said, “Under the occupation, people were simply executed in the streets.” He added that more bodies are being found every day under rubble and in mass graves.

More than 350 of the victims were found in Bucha, northwest of Kyiv.

UPDATE 1825 GMT:

Retaliating for the European Union’s declaration of 19 Russian diplomats as personae non gratae, the Russian Foreign Ministry has ordered 18 EU diplomats to leave the country.

The EU expelled the Russians from Belgium for “engaging in activities contrary to their diplomatic status”. It said of Russia’s response: “The decision of the Russian authorities announced on Friday has no grounds and is nothing else than a retaliatory step. Russia’s chosen course of action will further increase its international isolation.”

UPDATE 1545 GMT:

Russia’s long-range bombers have struck besieged Mariupol for the first time, says Ukraine Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Oleksandr Motuzianyk.

On April 14, two Russian strategic heavy bombers Tu-95/-160 have launched cruise missiles hitting the territory of Ukraine from Krasnodar Krai of Russian Federation airspace. Also for the first time from the start of the armed aggression bombs were dropped by a long-range bombers Tu-22M3. This airstrike took place, hitting Mariupol.

Despite the surrender of some Ukrainian troops after more than seven weeks of attack and siege, defenders continue to hold much of the city, with ongoing fighting in the city’s iron and steel plant and in the port.

Oleh Syniehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said Ukrainian forces downed a Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter, killing the crew.

UPDATE 1535 GMT:

The captain of the Moskva was killed before the Russian flagship sank on Thursday, according to Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry: “1st rank captain, cruiser Moskva flagship commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Anton Kuprin, died during the explosion and fire on board.”

UPDATE 1135 GMT:

Lithuania Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas posted a version of the sinking of the Russian flagship Moskva which differs significantly from Moscow’s narrative.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the missile cruiser sank as it was being towed to Sevastapol in Russian-occupied Crimea, But Anusauskas indicated that it went down early Thursday after an explosion, possibly from a Ukrainian missile strike.

At 1.14 a.m., the cruiser lay on its side, and after half an hour, all the electricity went out. From 2 a.m., the Turkish ship evacuated 54 sailors from the cruiser, and at about 3 a.m., Turkey and Romania reported that the ship had completely sunk. The related loss of Russian personnel is still unknown, although there were 485 crew on board (66 of them officers).

UPDATE 1022 GMT:

Russian authorities are prosecuting a Siberian journalist for reporting on 11 riot police who refused deployment to Ukraine.

Mikhail Afanasyev, chief editor of the site Novy Fokus, was arrested by security forces on Wednesday for disseminating “deliberately false information” about the Russian armed forces.

Last month the Russian Parliament passed a bill authorizing a maximum prison sentence of 15 years for posting news about the military.

Afanasyev is an established journalist covering issues such as organised crime and abuses of power by local officials. In 2009, he was accused of libel after critical stories on the Russian Government’s response to an explosion at the country’s largest hydroelectric plant. In 2016, he received death threats from a criminal gang in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, following his articles on the group’s illegal activities and suspected ties to local police.

A second Siberia-based journalist, Sergei Mikhailov of the LIStok weekly newspaper, was arrested on Wednesday and put in pre-trial detention for coverage of sanctions against Russia. LIStok’s website was blocked in March.

Four student journalists — Armen Aramyan, Natasha Tyshkevich, Alla Gutnikova, and Volodya Metelkin were sentenced on Wednesday to two years of “corrective labour” over an online video defending freedom of assembly.

The journalists were detained in April 2021 and then put under house arrest. Their “crime” was to say it is illegal to expel and intimidate students for participating in rallies in support of the imprisoned activist Alexei Navalny.

UPDATE 0738 GMT:

Ukrainian officials say troops foiled eight Russian attacks in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

The Ukrainian military say Russian troops are trying to capture the towns of Popasna and Rubezhnoye, but have been “unsuccessful” so far.

UPDATE 0725 GMT:

In his late-night video address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has praised the bravery and resolve in the Ukrainian people’s resistance of Russia’s “absurd” and “suicidal” invasion.

“We have withstood 50 days already. 50 days of Russian invasion, although the occupiers gave us a maximum of five,” the President said.

I remember the first day of the invasion of the Russian Federation. I remember what I was told on February 24….To put it mildly, no one was sure that we would withstand it. Everyone sympathised. Many of them advised me to flee the country. Advised to actually surrender to tyranny.

But they didn’t know us either. And they did not know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom. Our opportunity to live the way we want….

You have all become heroes. All Ukrainian men and women who withstood and do not give up. And who will win. Who will return peace to Ukraine. I’m sure of it.

UPDATE 0705 GMT:

Moody’s Investors Service says Russia “may be considered in default” if it fails to pay bonds in US dollars by May 4.

S&P Ratings declared Russian “selective default” last week when Moscow paid two bonds in roubles, after the US Treasury barred debt payments with dollars held in American banks.

Moody’s said the use of rubles “represents a change in payment terms” and may be considered a default.

In a March 30 letter, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov asked Brazil for support in the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the G20 to counter international sanctions.

Siluanov appealed for Brazilian assistance to “prevent political accusations and discrimination attempts in international financial institutions and multilateral fora”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia’s Black Sea flagship, the missile cruiser Moskva, has sunk in the Black Sea, possibly after a Ukrainian missile strike.

More than 600 feet long, the 12,500-ton cruiser was damaged by an explosion on Thursday morning. Ukrainian official said two Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles were fired as the Moskva’s crew was distracted by a drone.

The 500 crew abandoned ship, with no reported casualties. The cruiser was towed towards Sevastopol in Russia-occupied Crimea, but sank on the way.

Russia’s Defense Ministry would not confirm a strike, saying only that the explosion had detonated ammunition. They also claimed during the afternoon that the fire on the Moskva had been extinguished, before saying in the evening that the flagship “lost its stability…in stormy sea conditions” as it was towed by four vessels.

Military analysts questioned the Russian narrative. Mark Hertling, the former commanding general of the US Army Europe, noted that the Sevastopol weather report was of winds of 4 miles per hour and “a little bit of rain”.

A “senior US defense official” noted that five other Russian warships moved at least 20 nautical miles offshore after the explosion on the Moskva, suggesting they were moving out of range of Ukrainian missiles.

Commissioned in 1979 and built in the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv, the Moskva was one of only three Slava-class cruisers in the Russian Navy. It patrolled the coast of Georgia during the Russian-Georgian war in 2008, and supported Russia’s military intervention in Syria from 2015. After an extensive refit, it returned to operational status in 2021.

The warship was armed with 16 anti-ship Vulkan cruise missiles with a range of at least 440 miles. It also reportedly carried S-300 anti-air missiles. It was also a key communications and control platform for the Russian military.

On the first day of Russia’s invasion, February 24, the flagship demanded the surrender of the defenders of Snake Island. The Ukrainian border guards responded, “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.”

On Wednesday, Ukraine President Zelenskiy presented a new postage stamp with the warship and an Ukrainian border guard raising his middle finger.

The last time Russia lost a cruiser to attack was in 1941, when German planes sank the Chervona Ukraina at Sevastopol.

In late March, Ukrainian forces sank the landing ship Orsk in the occupied port of Berdyansk in southern Ukraine. Two weeks ago, the warship Admiral Essen was damaged with a Neptune missile, putting it out of operation.