The Moskva’s last moments: Audio recording reveals crew frantically calling for help from Putin’s sinking flagship and saying ‘communication with bridge is cut’ as sirens blare
- Ukraine said it hit the Moskva with two R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles
- Russia had claimed flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet sank after fire onboard
- Audio has now emerged of a crew member saying the ship was hit twice
A video has been posted which seems to show a crew member of the Russian warship Moskva panicking and calling for help before it sinks.
The Ukrainian military published the audio from the sinking 12,490 ton cruiser, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.
In the video on Facebook, a crew member can be also heard saying that the ship has been hit twice and it is now tilting on its side.
Russia has previously claimed that the ship sank on April 14 after an ammunition explosion brought on by a storm.
Ukraine has always claimed it used two R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles to take down the vessel.
Vladimir Putin’s Black Fleet chief, Admiral Igor Osipov, has ‘not been seen alive’ since the sinking of the Moskva which became infamous for a clip of a Ukrainian soldier telling the Russian warship ‘go f*** yourself’ at the outbreak of the war.
It is the largest Russian warship to be sunk since World War II and the first of a similar size since ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War in 1982.
The Ukrainian military published the audio from the sinking Moskva (pictured being blown up) 12,490 ton cruiser, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet
It is the largest Russian warship to be sunk since World War II and the first of a similar size since ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War in 1982
In the video, the crew member tells a Tugboat – which appears to be providing help – that he is ‘Moskva (1)’ and it is ‘laying on its side’ with ‘two [shell] holes below the waterline’.
He adds: ‘Communication with the bridge is cut, there is silence. It’s going to the side, it’s tilting. The tilt is 30 degrees. It’s going to the side.
‘There’s no way to move. We are going to try and carry out a rescue of the crew.’
It has also been reported that the US has backed up Ukraine’s story that it sunk the Moskva.
An American official said that the US shared intelligence about the location of the Russian missile cruiser but did not know Ukraine planned on striking the Moskva and was not involved in the decision, according to NBC.
Russia has previously claimed that the ship sank on April 14 after an ammunition explosion brought on by a storm. Ukraine has always claimed it used two R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles to take down the vessel
But the Pentagon has dismissed these claims saying that Ukraine has its own intelligence and ways of monitoring Russian vessels.
Pictures which seem to have been taken from a rescue vessel alongside the stricken Russian warship also show damage to the Moskva’s left side along with flames burning below deck and a thick pall of black smoke rising into the sky.
Russian officials this week also insisted commander Osipov was at his ‘combat post’ but ‘not in the mood’ to face the public after Ukraine initially said he had been detained following the Moskva sinking.
But the 49-year-old was conspicuously absent from the Red Square Victory Day parade on Monday, which he would routinely be expected to attend and only been recorded as present at meetings.
Russia has so far only admitted to one fatality on the Moskva, when it is clear many more were killed.
It is also known that many were wounded and have been receiving treatment in hospitals in several cities.
The images show what appears to be damage to the left-hand side of the vessel close to the water line, smoke and fire damage along its left-hand side, missing lifeboats and open helicopter bay doors – suggesting the aircraft has taken off. A rescue ship also appears to be behind the stricken ship, spraying water jets
The father of a missing – presumed dead – sailor on the battleship said after a meeting with top brass last week: ‘Figures of dead and wounded on the cruiser Moskva will be clarified by the Black Sea Fleet and Ministry of Defence when they consider it expedient.’
Earlier he had accused them of a cover-up over the fate of the crew, around two-thirds of which are believed to have been conscripts.
The father – Dmitry Shkrebets – said: ‘I hope that the causes of the absurd loss of the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet will be investigated thoroughly by the military prosecutor’s office and the FSB directorate…and the results will be made public to the people of Russia.’
According to the Lithuanian defense minister, there were 485 crew members aboard, including 66 officers, and a total of 54 crew members were saved by a Turkish ship.
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