Ukraine mocked the Kremlin after releasing footage showing its launch of the portable Neptune missiles that sank the Russian cruiser Moskva – the flagship of Vladimir Putin’s Black Sea fleet – one year ago today.
Kiev officials have mocked their Russian counterparts over footage purporting to show missiles firing and exploding in the sky as they are on their way to sink the Moskva into the Black Sea.
The flagship caught fire after severely damaging her port side with a thick column of black smoke pouring from the ship into the sky. Moskava sank on April 14 last year and is now 150 feet below the water’s surface after two Neptune rockets hit it.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov took advantage of the anniversary to poke fun at the Kremlin, saying “I invite you to a new diving site” to visit the wreck of Putin’s treasured warship.
Russia has since tried to cover up the attack – one of its biggest humiliations of the war – by refusing to disclose the number of deaths or the command failures that led to the loss of the ship.
The Maskva was subjected to a fiery fire after it severely damaged its left side with a thick column of black smoke billowing from the ship, on April 14 last year.
Ukraine has released footage that appears to show the launch of the moving Neptune missiles that sank the Russian cruiser Moscow
Video footage showed Neptune missiles launched into the sky last year, heading for the battleship Moskva
If diving enthusiasts listen to me, then after the victory (in the war), I invite you to visit a new site for diving in the Black Sea – the Cruiser Moskva Underwater Museum. “I invite you, and I will be your guide,” said Reznikov, mocking the Moscow warmongers.
He added that the sinking of the warship – which resulted in an unknown number of deaths – “did the seemingly impossible”.
It changed the course of history, because a chain reaction began. It was the last day of the Russian fleet’s domination of the Black Sea.
After the flagship was sunk, the West began transferring more powerful missiles – such as the Harpoons – to Ukraine.
This, Reznikov said, led to the flight of the “Russian occupiers” from Snake Island, which they described as a “goodwill gesture”.
Third, liberating Snake Island allowed us to open a Pill Corridor. The world got our products, Ukraine got resources for defense.
“If Moscow had not been destroyed, it would have been impossible to achieve this result.”
Meanwhile, a grieving Russian father who called Vladimir Putin a “traitor” after the cruiser Moskva sank killing essentially “dozens” of young sailors has vowed to uncover the truth behind the Kremlin’s cover-up of “humiliation”.
Only the identities of some of the missing Russian Moskva sailors are known.
The Moskva was sailing about 60 miles off the coast of Odessa – Ukraine’s largest port – before Moscow confirmed it sank on April 15.
Moskava sank on April 14 last year and is now 150 feet below the water’s surface after being hit by two Neptune rockets.
The Moskva was a Soviet-era guided missile destroyer designed to load US aircraft carriers with large quantities of anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles.
As relatives celebrated the anniversary, Dmitry Shkrypets, 44, whose son Egor, 20, was murdered, vowed to get justice for those who died.
Russia is not yet clear on the number of dead or the circumstances, but is instead conducting a criminal investigation against this father for protesting the leaders’ alleged incompetence.
Shkrypts said it was clear that many of the dead were conscripts whom Putin had vowed not to send to the war zone.
Blaming the dictator for callous “indifference” to Moskva’s death, he demanded answers for the fate of the wayward men.
The blow to Moscow “should not have happened, but it was allowed,” said the alarmed father.
All this happened at 14.20 Moscow time, in the northwestern part of the Black Sea.
Dozens of sailors and crew members died, including my son.
He posted a picture of his son’s memorial.
The ship was bombed on April 13, 2022, the day Yegor died, but the ship sank on April 14.
Yegor Shkrypets, 20, a Russian conscript who died after the sinking of the cruiser Moskva in April last year.
Yegor Shkrypets (first from the right), 20, posed with other sailors of the Moskva cruiser, four days before the tragedy
The father said that these recruits “were not supposed to take part in (the special military operation) – President Vladimir Putin promised this publicly to the whole country.”
However, they became its participants from the very first day, since the first military campaign of the Moskva cruiser on February 24, 2022.
“An everlasting memory for you…and peace to your bright souls. See you soon, son.”
It was difficult to imagine a greater humiliation of the Russian Armed Forces, the fleet in general, and the Black Sea Fleet in particular, than all those involved in the murder of Major Moskva and members of her crew, including conscripts.
Such humiliation is like cancer, which does not come from outside, but is caused by an imbalance in the cells of the body.
If it is not detected in time, it will be difficult to fight.
He said the Kremlin offered condolences to the relatives of the dead sailors on the Kursk submarine that sank in 2000, but that it “doesn’t care” about those killed in Moskva in 2022.
Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi aboard the steamer Moskva in August 2014
Russia has remained tight-lipped about the fate of the Moskva’s crew, but on Sunday released this footage that it claimed showed the ship’s sequel in procession in Sevastopol.
Anton Kuprin (left), captain of the Moskva, salutes Admiral Nikolay Yevminov, the commander in charge of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet of which the ship was the flagship.
The footage showed the ship’s captain — Anton Kuprin (center) — walking past his men, who were estimated to number between 150 and 250. The Moskva usually carried up to 510 men, and Russia has not said what happened to them.
Shkrypts said the warship should not be near a war zone with hundreds of recruits on board.
He faces an investigation after denouncing Putin for failing to interview or admit the missing Moskva sailors, and for appointing incompetent commanders, but he vows to continue fighting and uncover the truth once the investigation is over.
He declared: “Putin is no longer my boss. I do not believe this man, he betrayed me.”
“I consider him a hypocrite and a traitor to my motherland.”
Reznikov vowed that Ukraine would lead to the sinking of more Russian warships.
“We can present the Russians with another surprise at sea, another missile (hitting) their ships,” he said. “We’re just waiting for the right moment.”
