Moskva Down?

The Ukrainians are claiming they’ve hit the Slava class cruiser Moskva, flagship of the Black Sea Fleet:

A Ukrainian navy missile battery reportedly has struck the Russian navy cruiser Moskva off the coast of Odessa, a strategic port city on the Black Sea in southwest Ukraine.

Multiple Ukrainian government officials claimed Wednesday that a Neptune anti-ship battery, apparently hidden in or around Odessa, scored two hits on Moskva, setting the 612-foot vessel ablaze.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyiv, announced the strike. So did Maksym Marchenko, head of the administration in Odessa. “Neptune missiles … caused very serious damage to the Russian ship,” Marchenko said.

The Russians… claim that the ship caught on fire for unspecified reasons.

There’s a lot still to be sorted out, but if Moskva sinks I believe she’ll be the largest warship sunk in combat since General Belgrano in 1982.