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Many questions about the sinking of the Russian flagship

Many questions about the sinking of the Russian flagship - Photo 1.

If he had a few weapons on hand, he would always feel tempted to try them out. Even if unsuccessful, it will force the opponent to rethink his threats.

Researcher Douglas Barrie (International Institute for Strategic Studies, UK) commented on Ukraine’s use of Neptune missiles.

In the announcement at the end of the day April 14, Ministry of Defense Russia confirmed the cruiser Moskva had sunk because of a hole in the hull caused by “explosion of the ammunition depot the day before and a great storm”.

Missile hit Or explode the ammunition depot?

The loss of the cruiser Moskva is a great loss to the Russian navy in the Black Sea, and Ukraine sees it as a major and most significant victory since the beginning of the war. In fact, verifying claims from both Russia and Ukraine is extremely difficult and complicated at the moment.

The extent of the ship’s damage could not be verified with the naked eye. In the first notice on April 13, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the crew had been evacuated. This is an important indicator that the extent of the damage of the Moskva after the explosion was such that all efforts by the crew to save the ship were in vain.

The claim that the ship sank due to bad weather is also not really convincing when hydrological data shows only a little rain and light wind in the Black Sea.

Talking to Tuoi Tre, Master Nguyen The Phuong, lecturer at the international relations department at the University of Economics and Finance in Ho Chi Minh City, said that Russia seemed to know for sure that the Moskva ship would sink, so it admitted the explosion. ammunition depot, because no other failure of the ship could have sunk such a large ship.

Military experts say that even if the Moskva was indeed hit by a Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missile, Russia would never admit this. The ship is said to still be able to withstand even being hit by 4 or 5 missiles at nearly every location on the ship, except for the ammunition depot.

“Most opinions are leaning towards the possibility that the ship was hit by a Ukrainian missile, about 70-80% of which is likely based on information from both sides and other open sources. The problem is Ukraine. need to show evidence that they really sunk the Russian flagship with a missile,” said Phuong identify.

According to what the Ukrainian official claimed, the Ukrainian military used domestically developed and produced Neptune missiles to “destroy” the Russian warship. Another claim is that Ukraine used a TB2 Bayraktar unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to harass the Moskva, disrupting its defenses to give the missile an opportunity to hit.

Regardless of the credibility of these claims, according to Phuong, if Ukraine has said to use a UAV, Kiev needs to show strong evidence such as a video of the approach of the Moskva ship or the moment it was hit by a missile. hit hit.

Many questions about the sinking of the Russian flagship - Photo 3.

Data: DUY LINH – Source: WALL STREET JOURNAL, IHS JANES, NAVAL NEWS – Graphics: N.KH.

Russia was subjective?

If indeed Ukraine used Neptune missiles to attack the Moskva ship, this would be a somewhat surprising development. This type of domestic missile was still in the process of final testing when hostilities broke out on February 24.

With the fighting leaving the defense-industrial complex a target of Russian raiding, some think it will be a while before the first Neptune systems come into action.

Russian intelligence probably made the same assessment and was not updated with new information about the Neptune system, including the speed of testing and mass production as well as the location of deployment of the Neptune system. this missile.

The lack of intelligence combined with subjectivity led to the inevitable outcome of the Moskva. Most of the time from the beginning of the conflict the ship operated out of Odessa, returning a few days to Sevastopol. On April 12, the ship was seen east of Snake Island as before.

After taking control of Snake Island, which served as Ukraine’s outpost for intelligence gathering on Russian naval activities, the Black Sea fleet’s warships – including the cruiser Moskva – were at ease. operate in the area and create subjective psychology.

“Russian subjectivity has led to them deploying the cruiser Moskva alone and near the coast of Ukraine, within the range of the Neptune missile.

The fact that the Moskva ship “alone alone” is still confusing, considering that Moscow is the flagship of the fleet, so it is in need of escort from other ships,” said Master Phuong.

Open issues

For Ukraine, the greatest significance of sinking the cruiser Moskva as they themselves claim can boost the morale of the Ukrainian army and people to a higher level, while they are preparing for an expected war. will be fierce in the Donbass.

As for Russia, this damage will more or less affect the morale of the soldiers and Russian leaders will need to find a reasonable explanation for this loss.

In the eyes of military observers, this event will somewhat reduce Russian naval activities in the region, given that Turkey has closed the Bosphorus strait connecting the Black and Mediterranean seas with other countries. Military ships.

This means that Russia will not be able to add warships to the Black Sea fleet and two “sister” ships with the Moskva, the cruiser Varyag and the Admiral Ustinov, still have to stay in the Mediterranean.

With a displacement of more than 12,000 tons, it is possibly the largest warship sunk in a war since World War II. This will further highlight the asymmetric warfare strategy that Ukraine and smaller countries with modest defense potential are aiming for.

“The development and use of anti-ship missiles obviously costs less money than building a new warship. Nowadays it is not only a strong army that can win, as long as the opposite side chooses the right counter weapon. and cause great damage to the attacker,” commented lecturer Phuong.

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