Good evening. This is your Russia-Ukraine War Briefing, a weeknight guide to breaking news and analysis on the conflict.
Russia’s warship sinks
The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet sank today after it sustained catastrophic damage that Ukraine said was the result of a missile attack by its coastal defense forces. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the damage to the ship, the Moskva, was caused by a fire and that it later sank while being towed in a storm.
Ukraine said it hit the ship with Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles, which have never been used in combat. Russia initially said it was “seriously damaged” and the entire crew of 700 had abandoned the ship. The defense ministry later said the Moskva sank in the Black Sea while being towed to the fleet’s home port, Sevastopol, during a storm, the TASS news agency reported.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US had not yet determined what caused the fire aboard the Moskva. But half a dozen Russian ships in the Black Sea are further from Ukraine’s coast, a senior US defense official said, giving credence to Ukraine’s claim that it hit the ship with a missile.
The sinking of the Moskva was a powerful symbolic victory for the Ukrainian military, an embarrassment to Moscow and — if a Neptune was used — a demonstration of the power new weapons could have in shaping the war.
“This is a big problem because it shows that the Ukrainians have some capacity,” said Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the former commander of the US military in Europe. “This will be a huge boost for them and will also increase deterrence. Russian ships will hesitate to get too close.”
Ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet have been lying off the coast since the start of the war and regularly launch missiles and missile attacks on targets in Ukraine. The fleet has also closed off Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea, cutting off a major economic lifeline.
At the start of the war, the Moskva made headlines after calling on Ukrainian troops on Snake Island to surrender and receiving a profane response. It was also deployed in the war in Syria, where Russian troops supported President Bashar al-Assad.
Mariupol on the edge
Russian troops have moved into the center of Mariupol, the strategic city in southern Ukraine that has been under siege for more than 40 days. Analysts expect it to fall soon.
Ukrainian troops defending the city split in two, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a research group in Washington.
Russian and Ukrainian officials confirmed on Wednesday that Russian forces had captured the Ilyich metal factory in the northern part of Mariupol, after making significant advances in the city center in recent days.
The Russian Defense Ministry said more than 1,000 Ukrainian marines from the 36th Brigade “voluntarily placed their weapons and surrendered” at the factory. Ukrainian officials admitted that some troops had laid down their weapons, but they denied reports of a mass surrender.
Given recent Russian gains, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War believe Russian forces will capture all or most of Mariupol in the coming week.
Control of Mariupol is crucial to Russia’s plan to create a land corridor between the Donbas region to the east and Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. central to the war.
War between Russia and Ukraine: important developments
A blow to the Russian troops. The flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet suffered catastrophic damage that forced the crew to abandon it. Russia said a fire caused the damage, although Ukraine claimed to have hit the ship with missiles. The ship then sank while being towed to port.
Mariupol is said to be the second major Ukrainian city to fall to Russian troops after Kherson, which is also in the south.
Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko estimates tens of thousands of civilians have been killed, though officials say it has been impossible to do an accurate tally of civilian casualties or envision the full extent of the destruction. On Wednesday, the mayor said there are still 120,000 people in the city.
Those who remain in Mariupol have no access to water, food or electricity and are bombed almost constantly. Hardly any part of the city was unscathed, according to an analysis of satellite images by Masae Analytics, a building damage assessment company.
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Thank you for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Carole
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