Russo-Ukrainian War: Warship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet sank last week after an explosion (File)
Moscow:
The Kremlin refused to release any details of casualties after the sinking of the Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva, as parents called for the truth about their missing children.
The warship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet sank last week after an explosion and fire that Ukraine attributed to a successful missile attack and which Russia attributed to detonation of various types. ammunition.
Russian authorities said the crew had been evacuated from the warship – which can carry up to 680 sailors – but gave no other details.
After the parents of the Moskva ship sank and other family members of the sailors who served on the ship – including conscripts – took to social media, saying that their children were missing and they needed answers. word.
Asked to comment on the situation, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman on Tuesday said the Kremlin had no authority to disclose any details.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “All communications are only through the defense ministry. “All information regarding this is released by the department of defense and here we are not authorized to disclose anything.”
Several families have said on social media or in statements to independent Russian or foreign media that they could not find their children serving on the Moskva train.
Dmitry Shkrebets said that his conscript son Yegor worked as a cook on the ship and is currently listed as missing in action.
“A conscript who was not allowed to participate in wars is listed as missing,” he said in a post on VKontakte, Russia’s largest social network.
He said that after he tried to learn more about the tragedy, the cruiser’s commander and his lieutenant were gone.
On Monday, Shkrebets said he was in contact with three other families whose enlisted sons were also missing following the sinking.
“We needed written answers to our questions about the whereabouts of our kids,” says Shkrebets.
Meduza, an independent Russian-language news website, quoted a source close to the Black Sea Command as saying 37 members of the Moscow crew were killed.
About 100 men were injured while the exact number of people missing was not known, the publication said.
Meduza said about 500 people were on board when the Moskva train was attacked.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
