What happened to the cruiser Moskva on 14 April 2022?
A look back at the day the Russian warship sank in the Black Sea, and at a protest outside the Russian embassy in Washington.
What happened to the Russian cruiser Moskva on 14 April 2022? The warship sank in the Black Sea, an event that marked a major victory for Ukraine.
The Russian navy had tried to tow the damaged vessel to Sevastopol, but it went down before reaching port. Moskva was the largest warship sunk in combat since the Second World War. Information also emerged that day that the cruiser had been one of the ships involved in the attack on Snake Island on 25 February.
Competing accounts of the damage
The sinking followed claims made on 13 April 2022. Ukrainian officials and the US Department of Defense said Ukraine had struck the cruiser with two Neptune cruise missiles in the Black Sea. Russia's Ministry of Defence gave a different version, according to Russian state media: the crew had been evacuated after a fire on board set off ammunition, severely damaging the ship. Both sides agreed that the warship had caught fire.
Protest in Washington
On the same day, protesters in the United States projected the Ukrainian flag onto the wall of the Russian embassy in Washington. The embassy responded by turning on floodlights in an attempt to drown out the image of the flag.
