The Russian ship Muscovia was badly damaged by an explosive device

Russian state agencies said Thursday that the Moscow Black Sea Fleet’s flagship, the Moscow, was “severely damaged” by a firecracker explosive device.

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“The bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a mosque in Moscow, police said. The ship was severely damaged, ”the ministry was quoted as saying by the agencies Dass and Rhea Novosti.

He said staff had been completely evacuated and an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the fire.

Russian agencies did not specify the location of the incident.

Ukrainian officials have previously said that Moscow was on fire after being hit by missiles.

“Neptune missiles protecting the Black Sea have caused significant damage to this Russian ship,” said Maxim Marchenko, Ukrainian governor of the Odessa region (south).

Oleksiï Arestovitch, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, announced on YouTube that “a surprise has arrived in the Russian Black Sea Navy.”

“He’s burning intensely.

“We do not understand what happened,” he added.

During the first days of the invasion, the Moscow vessel took part in an attack on the Serbian island off the Black Sea near the Romanian border when 19 Ukrainian sailors were captured. They were later transferred to Russian prisoners.

Launched as a Slava in 1983, the ship was later renamed the Moscow. Sixteen P-1000 Vulcan anti-ship missiles and a variety of anti-submarine and anti-aircraft weapons were deployed in the second half of 2015 to protect the Russian air base in Hemim, Syria, into the eastern Mediterranean. ., According to DOS Agency.