Admitted losses for the first time
Kremlin reports one dead after “Moskva” sinks
04/22/2022, 11:15 p.m
Several media reports of up to 116 sailors who are said to have died when the Russian warship “Moskva” sank. These figures are not confirmed by Moscow. Now the Ministry of Defense is making its own statements about the dead and missing for the first time.
Eight days after the sinking of the warship “Moskva”, Russia has for the first time admitted losses in connection with the incident. One crew member died and 27 other sailors were missing, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said on Friday, according to Russian news agencies. The remaining 396 crew members of the guided missile cruiser that sank in the Black Sea on April 14 were rescued.
According to the Ukrainian army, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet was fired at with rockets. The US Department of Defense confirmed this account. Russia, on the other hand, said ammunition had detonated on board the cruiser. The explosion started a fire that damaged the fuselage. The “Moskva” then sank while trying to tow her to a port.
The sinking of the “Moskva” was one of the largest material losses for the Russian army since the start of the military operation against Ukraine on February 24. The “Moskva” built in Soviet times, together with other ships of the Black Sea Fleet, had blocked the southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol.
Novaya Gazeta reports “around 40” dead sailors
The Russian exile medium “Meduza”, based in Riga, Latvia, recently reported that at least 37 sailors of the sunken guided missile cruiser “Moskva” are said to have died. The medium relies on sources with good connections to the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The bodies were taken to the port city of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula.
The mother of one sailor told Novaya Gazeta that “around 40” sailors were killed. Meduza’s source also speaks of 100 injured sailors and many who fell overboard and are missing. A total of about 500 sailors are said to have been on the ship.
In addition, the Kremlin-affiliated newspaper “Readovka” put the number of Russian soldiers who died in the Ukraine war at a total of 13,414 on the Russian portal “VKontakte”. Another 7,000 soldiers are said to be missing. However, the post was deleted shortly after it was published. The newspaper is said to have later claimed that it was a hacker attack, as reported by the “Bild” newspaper.
The article also contains information on the victims of the sunken flagship “Moskva”. Accordingly, 116 dead sailors are confirmed, more than 100 others are missing. The numbers match videos released by the Russian leadership after the accident. On several occasions where the crew of the “Moskva” is shown, never more than 200 sailors can be seen. However, the ship is said to have had a crew of around 500 men.