Ukraine round-up: Russia admits Moskva ship losses for first time
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by
marc54
Russia has for the first time admitted losses of personnel on the Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet, which sank last week.
The defence ministry said one crew member had died and 27 were missing after the sinking, while the remaining 396 had been rescued. Previously it had made no mention of casualties.
The BBC cannot independently verify these figures.
The sinking of the missile cruiser is one of the defining events of the war in Ukraine so far. Russia says the ship went down because of a fire on board, but Ukraine says it sank it with missiles.
And now, the wreckage of the pride of Russia’s fleet has been declared an item of Ukrainian underwater cultural heritage, under the category of rare scientific or technical equipment.
As the BBC’s Joe Inwood reports, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence says the wreck can be admired “without much diving”.
