A Russian warship that had been damaged by an explosion on Wednesday has sunk in the Black Sea, the country’s defence ministry said on Friday, according to news agency Tass. The ministry said that the ship caught fire. However, Ukraine claimed to have struck the vessel with missiles.

“During the towing of the Moskva cruiser to the designation port, the ship lost stability due to hull damage, sustained during the detonation of ammunition because of a fire,” the Russian defence ministry said. “Amid the heavy storm, the ship sank.”

Moskva had led Russia’s Navy assault on Ukraine. It was the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

On Thursday, the Russian defence ministry had reported that Moskva had sustained serious damage after ammunition on board got detonated by a fire. The crew was evacuated to nearby Black Sea Fleet ships.

However, military officials in Kyiv said they struck Moskva with Neptune missiles – a weapon that was designed after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine in 2014, the BBC reported.

Crimea was previously an autonomous republic region bordering Ukraine and Russia.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, in what it called a “special operation” to demilitarise and “de-Nazify” its neighbouring country. Ukraine and its Western allies have said that this was a baseless pretext to wage a war.

There have been 4,577 civilian casualties in Ukraine till April 13, according to the United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner.

On April 13, Russian President Vladimir Putin had said that the peace talks with Ukraine have hit a dead end and his country would achieve its “noble aims”. He had added that the war must go on to defend the Russian speakers of eastern Ukraine, and prevent the area from being an “anti-Russian springboard for Moscow’s enemies”.