Ukraine claimed it caused a Russian warship to sink on Thursday. Russia refuted that claim, saying there was a fire and that the ship simply sank as it was being towed to shore for repairs. Now the Pentagon is weighing in, and it's confirming the Ukrainian side of the story. On Friday, a senior US official from the Defense Department said that Ukraine's forces fired two Neptune missiles at the 610-foot Moskva missile cruiser in the Black Sea, causing enough damage that it eventually sank, reports the Washington Post. The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet was hit about 65 miles off the coast of Odesa and continued to chug along on her own power for a bit before eventually succumbing to the ocean, per the New York Times.
The official says that, according to US intel, there were casualties, though he didn't say how many. He added that some surviving Russian sailors were plucked out of the water by lifeboats. About 500 crew members were believed to be aboard. "She had cruise missiles ... that are now at the bottom of the Black Sea," the official said of the Moskva. Reuters calls the sinking of the ship a "bitter loss" for Russia, as it was the largest Russian warship lost in action since 1941 and a source of "military pride." Still, it seems like the Moskva's demise was largely a symbolic one, and the course of the conflict shifting because of its sinking seems "unlikely," in Reuters' assessment. (There's now an obscene gesture on Ukrainian postage stamps directed squarely at the warship and Russia.)
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