“We have achieved significant success. Hit with two Neptune missiles and essentially putting out of action the missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet, means severely damaging Putin’s navy and the entire attack apparatus against Ukraine ”. This is the position and the Ukrainian version given by Oleg Zhdanov, former high officer before the Soviet army, then Ukrainian, to the Corriere della Sera. There are those who, among the experts, also speak of a western intervention with drones that have been monitoring the Black Sea for some time and remember that that sea area could hide mines.
The Russian words have the opposite sign. The Moscow Ministry of Defense officially confirmed the sinking of the flagship of the fleet: “Lost stability and sank while being towed in a storm” after a fire on board. The crew had already made it to safety.
Certainly the ship, 186 meters, 12,500 tons, 750 million dollars in value, built in 1982, sank and it is a moral blow and symbolic even before military for the Russians. The flagship of the Russian Black Sea military fleet, the third largest of the active vessels in the Russian fleet with two cannons, Vulkan missiles, several anti-submarine weapons and torpedoes, was supposed to coordinate the attack on Odessa, but above all it was it was this ship that ordered the Ukrainian customs officers of Snake Island to surrender, those customs officers now celebrated on a postage stamp for having sent the Russian ship to that country. Another certainty is the change in Russian military tactics which has already seen some ships departing from Odessa.
According to General Vincenzo Camporini the Moskva it is “an old iron, a symbol of the shortcomings of the Russian surface navy”, but Russia has the means to continue the war. In Ukraine there are those who fear that Moscow will hit even harder after the sinking of the ship. On the ground, Mariupol is getting closer and closer to capitulation. For CIA Director William Burns, Russian defeats could prompt the Russian president to use nuclear weapons. “Given the desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks they have faced militarily so far, none of us can take lightly the threat of the potential use of tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons.”
Although President Putin said yesterday that he has buyers for Russian gas, it would be a serious blow for Moscow to cut off the supply to European countries. The problem is that the European front is not compact. The Ukrainian president also fears him Volodymyr Zelensky. Germany and Hungary are against it. The New York Times wrote, however, that the European Commission has begun to draft the draft for a gradual embargo on Russian oil. It should be released after the second round of the French presidential elections on April 24th. During the night, President Biden, answering a question, said he was ready to go to Kiev. Certainly new US weapons will arrive first.
Other stories of Vanity Fair that may interest you:
– Ukraine: 91,000 refugees in Italy
– Born, Finland and Sweden one step away from accession
Source: Vanity Fair
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