Photos Appear to Show Stricken Moskva Missile Cruiser

[Rogue Valley]

Photos Appear to Show Stricken Moskva Missile Cruiser - The Moscow Times

Photographs posted online early Monday appeared to show the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s flagship on fire prior to sinking. Two low-resolution photos taken from different angles showed a large warship - apparently the Moskva - engulfed in smoke and keeling over in open waters.

www.themoscowtimes.com

The images - if authentic - are the first photos or videos to emerge of the stricken Moskva.

4.18.22
Photographs posted online early Monday appeared to show the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s flagship on fire prior to sinking. Two low-resolution photos taken from different angles showed a large warship - apparently the Moskva - engulfed in smoke and keeling over in open waters. Few details about what happened to the Moskva have been disclosed since it sank off the Ukrainian coast last week, and the images - if authentic - are the first photos or videos to emerge of the stricken vessel, a 186-meter-long missile cruiser that was leading Russia’s naval effort in the war on Ukraine. The photos of the burning warship first appeared shortly after midnight on a Telegram messaging app channel that positions itself as a Ukrainian signals intelligence resource. It was quickly shared by other Telegram accounts, and on other social media. “Looks like a legit photo of the Moskva after it was struck by Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles,” military analyst Rob Lee said on Twitter. It was not immediately possible to verify the photo’s authenticity, or date of original publication, and there was no immediate confirmation from either Moscow or Kyiv. It appears to have been taken from a vessel nearby, perhaps involved in the rescue attempt.

If authentic, this would contradict the captain of a Turkish vessel who said the Moskva sank at approximately 2am.

There doesn't appear to be any sailors on the deck or any firefighting/towing efforts underway.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Looking at the pic in relation to the person standing at the rail, the Moskva looks too small.

 

[Rogue Valley]

In the picture above, the lifeboats are missing and two fire hoses are shooting streams of water into the air. Moskva is listing to port side and on fire inside and out with the area around the bridge burning intensely. You can almost see a puncture in the hull where the black smoke is the heaviest. The photographs were reportedly taken (against all orders) from a Russian Project 22870 rescue tugship. There were supposedly two such tugs in the Black Sea and both responded to the distress calls of the Moskva. In a brief video, one can see one of these tugs astern of the Moskva. Someone nearby shouts “What the **** are you doing?” and the film stops.

I think this is the real deal.