April 14 (Reuters) – The flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moscow, was severely damaged when munitions exploded on board, the Defense Ministry was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency on Thursday.
Interfax reported that the crew was evacuated. He blamed the blast on fire and said the cause was being investigated.
A Ukrainian official previously said that “Moscow” was hit by two missiles, but did not provide any evidence.
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The crew of the 12,500-ton ship is about 500 people. Russian news agencies reported that Moscow was armed with 16 Vulcan anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of at least 700 km (440 miles).
“As a result of the fire on the missile cruiser” Moscow “ammunition was detonated. The ship was seriously damaged,” said in a statement the Russian Ministry of Defense. “The crew was completely evacuated.
Interfax did not provide more details.
Maxim Marchenko, governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odessa, previously said in an online publication that two anti-ship missiles hit the cruiser, but did not provide evidence.
Last month, Ukraine said it had destroyed a large Russian landing ship, the Orsk, in the smaller Sea of Azov northeast of the Black Sea. Moscow has not commented on what happened to the ship.
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Report by David Ljunggren; Edited by Muralikumar Anantaraman, Stephen Coates and Neil Fulick
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