Russia's Moskva Missile Cruiser 121 Catches Fire And Crew Evacuated In The Black Sea, Ukraine Claims It Was Hit By A Neptune Missile

Russia's Moskva 121 missile cruiser. (Wikimedia Commons/Mil.ru/Ministry of Defense)

JAKARTA - The main ship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva 121 was badly damaged and its crew evacuated, after being hit by an explosion that Ukraine claims were the result of a missile attack.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser caused the ammunition to explode, the Interfax news agency reported.

"As a result of the fire on the missile cruiser Moskva, the ammunition exploded. The ship was badly damaged. The crew was completely evacuated", the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what caused the fire, but Maksym Marchenko, governor of Ukraine in the area around the Black Sea port of Odesa, said the warship Moskva had been hit by two Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles.

"Neptune's missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage", he said in an online post.

Ukraine's defense ministry did not respond to requests for comment and Reuters was unable to verify the claims of either side.

The explosion was another military setback for Russia, which has suffered a series of blows since the invasion. Interfax said all crew had been evacuated. It quoted the ministry as blaming the explosion on the fire and said the cause was being investigated.

The Moskva is the second major ship known to have suffered serious damage since the start of the war. Last month Ukraine said it had destroyed a landing support vessel, the Orsk, in the Sea of Azov.

The Russian Navy has launched cruise missiles at Ukraine, with its activities in the Black Sea crucial to supporting ground operations in the country's south, where Moscow is struggling to wrest full control of the Mariupol port.

Russian news agencies say the Moskva, commissioned in 1983, is armed with 16 Vulkan anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of at least 700 km (440 miles).