Chris Lange, FISM News
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Russia acknowledged Friday that its Black Sea fleet flagship Moskva had sunk a day after Kyiv’s Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces struck the vessel with two missiles.
Moscow acknowledged Thursday that its guided-missile cruiser was severely damaged but claimed it was due to an accidental fire onboard. The heavily damaged warship was being towed to port when it sank, an event Moscow attributed to “stormy seas.” The loss of Moskva, named for the Russian capital, represents a significant blow to the Kremlin, reducing Russia’s firepower in the Black Sea. The vessel had the capacity to carry 16 long-range cruise missiles.
A senior U.S. defense official on Thursday said the U.S. cannot confirm the cause of Moskva’s “explosion,” nor the extent of the damage, including casualties. The official noted that, in the wake of the incident, other Russian ships in the region “have all moved further south.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared to reference Moskva during his nightly video address Thursday, praising “those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it’s to the bottom” of the sea during his nightly video address. The leader lauded his people for their fierce resistance to Russia’s unprovoked war and for making “the most important decision of their life: to fight.”
Zelenskyy went on to note that Ukraine has managed to survive 50 days of the war, despite the fact that the Kremlin “gave us a maximum of five.” He also recounted the fact that world leaders urged him to flee Kyiv at the beginning of the invasion, fearing that Russia would quickly overwhelm Ukraine, adding, “But they didn’t know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want.”
‘We are not sending the president’
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday that the president will not visit Ukraine anytime soon, though Biden told reporters he was ready to travel to the war-torn country on the same day.
As the president prepared to board Air Force One for a planned trip to North Carolina, a reporter asked if he was ready to visit Kyiv in the near future.
“Yeah,” he replied. A video of the exchange was shared by Nexta on Twitter.
However, when Psaki was asked on the same day if the White House was considering sending Biden to Ukraine, she replied, “No, we are not sending the president to Ukraine,” during an interview on Pod Save America.
The contrasting statements came amid reports that the U.S. is considering sending top officials to Kyiv. According to a Reuters report, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin or Secretary of State Antony Blinken might go, but that Biden is unlikely to do so.
Montana senator visits Kyiv, sees ‘indisputable evidence of Putin’s war crimes’
Meanwhile, Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) became the first U.S. senator to visit Ukraine amid the war. Daines visited the mass graves in the city of Bucha, after which he said he saw “indisputable evidence of Putin’s war crimes everywhere.” The senator was accompanied by Ukrainian-born Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.)
“America and the world need to know about Putin’s atrocities against the innocent people of Ukraine now, not after time has passed and the aftermath of evil and bloodshed have been cleaned up,” Daines said in a statement, according to the Associated Press. “The sooner we can provide Ukraine with the lethal aid they need to win this war, the sooner we will end the war crimes.”
“President Zelenskyy has been urging leaders from around the world to come to Ukraine—I’m proud to help show that America stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine in their fight for freedom,” the senator said.
‘Starved to death’
Meanwhile, the number of Ukrainian troops defending Mariupol is waning, though they continue to fight. The weeks’-long siege of the port city has resulted in more than 10,000 civilian deaths, though officials say the toll could easily surpass 20,000. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, told the AP on Thursday that people are being “starved to death” in the besieged city where over 100,000 civilians remain trapped.
Mariupol has suffered perhaps the greatest deprivation and destruction of the war thus far, prized by Moscow for its key location between the annexed Crimean Peninsula and the Russian-backed Donbas region where forces are gearing up for a major offensive.
“Mariupol is and remains contested,” a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday, adding, “We do not hold that — assess that Russia has taken it. The Ukrainians are still fighting.” The official also said that Russia’s military has been moving helicopters and other equipment to eastern Ukraine and is likely to send in more ground combat units soon.
Moscow escalating missile strikes
Elsewhere Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry vowed to ramp up “the scale of missile attacks” on Kyiv in response to Ukraine’s “diversions on the Russian territory.”
Kremlin officials accused Ukraine of launching airstrikes on the Klimovo village in Russia’s Bryansk region Thursday, injuring seven people and damaging around 100 residential buildings. The Defense Ministry said that the Russian forces in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that was allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.
Authorities in Belgorod, another border region, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.