Despite spectacular progress at the start of the conflict, the Russian army has been floundering for several weeks. In some places Vladimir Putin’s soldiers even retreated. But the worst happened yesterday Thursday April 14 for the men of the Kremlin. The Moskva, missile carrier, flagship of the Russian fleet for nearly 40 years and which was used in particular to avoid a deployment of the Ukrainian army, sank after being hit by a Ukrainian missile, according to kyiv. Moscow, for its part, prefers to stick to an accidental fire. “When towing the cruiser Moskva to the port of destination, the ship lost its stability due to hull damage sustained in the fire as a result of the detonation of ammunition. In rough sea conditions, the ship sank“, the Russian Ministry of Defense said Thursday evening.
Whatever the circumstances of the sinking, it is for Vladimir Putin’s Russia one of its greatest setbacks and a terrible humiliation on the international scene. Commissioned in 1983, first under the name of Slava, this float is the most important Russian missile carrier to be in this ultra-strategic point that is the Black Sea. Equipped with sixteen anti-ship missile launchers as well as a variety of anti-submarine and anti-aircraft weapons, it was assigned in 2015 to the Mediterranean to protect the Russian airbase in Hmeimim, Syria. It is in particular from where the Russian planes left to bomb the city of Aleppo, in Syria.
If Vladimir Putin is careful not to speak of snub, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not hesitate to drive home the point in a video message referring to Ukrainians as “those who have shown that Russian ships can only go to bottom”. “Russian strikes from the sea are effective but limited in number […] and the loss of the Moskva is unlikely to be a major setback. But if confirmed, Ukraine’s ability to hit warships in the Black Sea could force the Russians to deploy additional air defenses aboard its vessels or move them away from positions close to the Ukrainian coast. “comments the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Thibaud Cruz
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