Featured Image Credit: Alamy/@ianbremmer/Twitter
Topics: Russia, Ukraine, World News
Cameron Frew
The Russian warship that was once told to 'go f**k yourself' by Ukrainian troops has been 'seriously damaged'.
On February 24, early on in Vladimir Putin's 'special military operation', the Russian flagship Moskva began an assault on Snake Island, a small Ukrainian island in the Black Sea with just one village and less than 30 people.
During the attack, Russian forces asked the small contingent of soldiers to surrender. "Put down your arms and surrender, or you will be bombed. Have you understood me? Do you copy?" they said, to which the Ukrainians replied: "Russian warship, go f**k yourself."
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Reports have emerged this morning (14 April) of the Moskva suffering serious damage - however, the cause of this has yet to be confirmed.
According to Ukrainian officials, the 12,500-tonne ship had been hit by two anti-ship missiles. It's believed the 500-strong crew have also been saved.
Odesa's governor Maksim Marchenko wrote on Telegram, as per Sky News: "It has been confirmed that the missile cruiser Moscow today went exactly where it was sent by our border guards on Snake Island!
"Neptune missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage to the Russian ship. Glory to Ukraine!"
Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych also claimed said "a surprise happened with the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet... it burns strongly. Right now," the MailOnline reports.
"And with this stormy sea it is unknown whether they will be able to receive help. There are 510 crew members. We don't understand what happened."
Russia's defence ministry claimed the missile cruiser was damaged after on-board ammunition exploded due to a fire, but didn't confirm what started the blaze in the first place.
The ministry said: "As a result of a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser, ammunition detonated. The ship was seriously damaged. The crew was completely evacuated."
In the initial reports surrounding the Snake Island assault, it was believed the 13 Ukrainian soldiers were all killed. However, they were actually taken into custody by Russian forces and later released as part of a prisoner exchange.
Roman Gribov, who told the warship 'go f**k yourself', has since been awarded the highest Ukrainian honour, the Hero of Ukraine.
The warship has been earlier described as 'the most serious ship in the Black Sea'.
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