A sunken Russian battleship may have been carrying the 'true cross' of Jesus Christ.
The Moskva, a missile cruiser and flagship of the country's Black Sea fleet, sank yesterday (April 14). According to Russian state media, the warship's demise was the result of an explosion onboard, which caused the detonation of ammunition.
The Tass news agency said: "As a result of a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser, ammunition detonated.
"The source of the blaze on the Moskva has been contained. The explosions of ammunition have stopped."
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However, Ukraine has since taken responsibility for the incident and it has been claimed that the Ukrainian military struck the vessel with Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles.
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!"
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The Russian defence ministry said the crew of 500 were evacuated.
It's not clear, however, whether the Moskva was carrying a fragment of the 'true cross' at the time of its sinking.
Back in February 2020, Tass confirmed that the vessel was due to keep the relic in its onboard chapel.
According to the site, the relic is a fragment of wood, just a few millimetres in size, which believers think was taken from cross on which Christ was crucified.
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At the time, the Russian Orthodox Church’s Sevastopol District Sergiy Khalyuta said: "This relic used to belong to a Catholic church, but was acquired by anonymous patrons of arts, and it was their will to send the relic to the [Black Sea] fleet.
"The Moskva cruiser has an onboard chapel, where services take place."
The Moskva missile cruiser is a significant vessel in the Russian invasion into Ukraine.
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On February 24, early on in Vladimir Putin's 'special military operation', the warship 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."
Roman Gribov, who told the warship 'go f**k yourself', has since been awarded the highest Ukrainian honour, the Hero of Ukraine.
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UNILAD has contacted the Russian embassy for a comment.
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Dominic Smithers