Multiple images have emerged online days after the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet Moskva was sunk by Ukrainian forces off the Odesa coast.
Photographs posted online early Monday appeared to show the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s flagship on fire prior to sinking.
The images and video shows black smoke coming out of the ship while it sinks, it images have not yet been verified by the sources but are said to be real.
The images of the burning warship, which were taken from a nearby vessel, were first shared on a Telegram messaging app that is believed to be linked to Russian security agencies, the Telegraph reported.
The images, which emerged Monday, were reportedly captured last week, the day after Ukraine claimed that it struck the ship off Odesa with Neptune missiles, according to media reports.
The loss of the warship comes as a massive blow to the Russian military struggling against Ukrainian resistance into Vladimir Putin's invasion of his neighbour.
Russian state news agency TASS reported last week reported that the guided-missile cruiser Moskva had sunk, citing a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense.
"During the towing of the cruiser Moskva to the port of destination, the ship lost its stability due to hull damage received during a fire from the detonation of ammunition. In the conditions of stormy seas, the ship sank," the statement said, according to TASS.
A senior US defence official confirmed Friday that at least one Ukrainian missile struck the Moskva – contradicting the Kremlin’s insistence that the 600-foot-long ship, which carried nearly 500 sailors, had been damaged in an ammunition fire.
Ukraine's Operational Command South claimed earlier that the Moskva had begun to sink after it was hit by Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles.
"In the Black Sea operational zone, Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles hit the cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet -- it received significant damage," a statement from Ukrainian authorities said.
Reportedly, a fire had broken out on the ship after a powerful explosion of ammunition overturned the cruiser.
Designed in the 1970s Soviet Union during the Cold War, it was conceived to destroy US aircraft carriers and had been in service for nearly four decades.
(with sources inputs)
