Russian flagship ‘seriously damaged’ as Moscow threatens to strike Kyiv

It was unclear what caused the explosion on the Moskva missile cruiser, with both sides giving conflicting reports

Russia’s Black Sea flagship involved in the naval assault on Ukraine has been “seriously damaged” by an explosion, state media reported on Thursday, as Moscow threatened to strike Kyiv’s command centres.

With the war entering its seventh week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced an $800-million military aid package for Ukraine that included helicopters and armoured personnel carriers.

And international prosecutors said the conflict has turned Ukraine into a “crime scene”, suggesting that those responsible could one day face prosecution.

It was unclear what caused the explosion on the Moskva missile cruiser, with both sides giving conflicting reports.

Russia’s defence ministry was quoted as saying the damage was caused by ammunition detonating “as a result of a fire”, adding that the cause of the blaze was being investigated. 

But a spokesman for the Odessa military administration, Sergey Bratchuk, said on Telegram that “according to available data, the cause of the ‘serious damage’ was ‘Neptune’ domestic cruise missiles”. 

The governor of Odessa also said Ukrainian forces had hit the vessel with missile strikes, while presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych said “we don’t understand what happened”.