One crew member died and 27 people are missing after Russia’s warship, the Moskva, sank last week in the Black Sea.
This was disclosed by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Friday, according to Russian State media, TASS.
The report added that the remaining 396 crew members were evacuated from the Moskva cruiser to nearby Black Sea fleet ships and sent to Sevastopol, a city in Crimea.
It said that the crew member who died, Ivan Leonidovich Vakhrushev, saved “hundreds” of his fellow servicemen.
Meanwhile, the Russian government, as of Tuesday, had not previously acknowledged any casualties, while Ukrainians said the Moskva sank after being struck by Ukrainian missiles.
But Russia denied the claim, insisting that the reason for the sinking was a fire.
It took the Russian military more than a week to acknowledge that one service member died and more than two dozen others were missing after the Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet, sank, reportedly the result of Ukrainian missile strikes.
The acknowledgment happened after families started searching desperately for their sons who, they said, served on the ship and did not come home, and relatives began posing sharp questions about Russia’s initial statement that the entire crew was evacuated.
However, the United States, on April 15, confirmed Ukraine’s account, with a senior defense official saying that the United States believes that two Ukrainian Neptune missiles hit the Russian warship.
The war between Russia and Ukraine started in February this year.
Several casualties have already been recorded as a result of the war.
