On Thursday, Russia’s most prominent warship, the Moskva, sank after being damaged by a fire following a missile strike, according to the Ukrainian military. The warship was reportedly carrying nuclear warheads.
“Mykhailo Samus, director of a Lviv-based military think-tank; Andriy Klymenko, editor of Black Sea News; and Ukrainian newspaper Defence Express all warned today that the Moskva was designed to carry warheads which could be fitting into the nose of its supersonic P-1000 missiles – designed to take out American aircraft carriers,” The Daily Mail reported. “If true, the loss of the warheads into the Black Sea could spark a ‘Broken Arrow’ incident – American military slang for potentially lethal accidents involving nuclear weapons.”
“On board the Moskva could be nuclear warheads – two units,” Samus said, according to the report.
Klymenko echoed, “Where are these warheads? Where were they when the ammunition exploded?”
Defence Express said it had “interviewed experts, including designers and naval officers, who unanimously and independently gave the following answer – there is a real possibility that the affected flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet could have had nuclear munitions on board… Are nuclear munitions always on board, or are they loaded only by special order?”
The sinking of the Moskva “represents a significant blow to Russia’s military and compromises security for its entire Black Sea Fleet. Russian ships in the Black Sea have been used to fire cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities since the war began on Feb. 24, targeting infrastructure, fuel depots, military bases and civilian administrative buildings,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
“It’s a hugely important military event and the biggest defeat of the Russian Navy since World War II,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said, adding that the sinking of the ship is particularly important because “Moskva” is Russian for Moscow.
