Russia’s flagship in its Black Sea fleet — the Moskva — was destroyed by two Ukrainian missiles, Ukraine’s military claims. The damage deals a major blow to Russia’s navy, reducing its ability to launch an amphibious assault.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A senior U.S. defense official says the U.S. believes the Russian guided-missile cruiser that sank Thursday in the northern Black Sea was struck by at least one Ukrainian anti-ship missile, as claimed by the Kyiv government.
Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian claim, but they also did not refute it.
The senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment, said the Moskva was hit Wednesday by at least one, and probably two, Neptune missiles, creating the large fire aboard the vessel.
The official offered no further details beyond saying the U.S. believes the Russians suffered some number of casualties aboard the ship.
The Russian missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, is seen anchored in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol on Sept. 11, 2008.
Photos from Ukraine: Surrounded by rubble, Ukrainians mourn
A man walks past a storage place for burned armed vehicles and cars, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a house after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Cemetery workers prepare the coffin for a person killed during the war with Russia, in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Embers smolder on a bed as firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a house after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A man walks with a bicycle next to a truck that carries black bags with corpses of people killed during the war with Russia and exhumed from a mass grave for investigations in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Ukrainian tanks move down a street in Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A policeman examines the corpse of a man killed during the war with Russia in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Firefighters clear the debris and search for bodies under the rubble of a building hit weeks ago by a Russian attack after receiving reports of a smell emerging from the area, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Residents stand outside their apartments as shops burn after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A boy walks by unexploded Russian shells in the village of Andriyivka close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Local residents stand atop of a Russian tank damaged during fightings between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Forensic scientists and police inspect dead bodies of local residents after removing them from a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People walk down a street near past a building damaged by shelling in Irpin, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A policeman examines the corpse of a Ukrainian soldier removed from a mass grave in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, April 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Men help Maria Dyachenko, 83, to board a transport during evacuation of civilians in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Maria left the village of Dovhenke, south of Izyum, Kharkiv region. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)
Relatives and friends stand by the coffins of Ukrainian servicemen Yuri Filyuk, 49, and Oleksander Tkachenko, 33, during a funeral ceremony in a village of Oleksandrivka, Odesa region, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. According to Ukrainian servicemen, these two were killed by a Russian missile hit their military base in Krasnoselka, Odesa region, on April 7. (AP Photo/Max Pshybyshevsky)
Volunteers load bodies of civilians killed in Bucha onto a truck to be taken to a morgue for investigation, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Firefighters are seen through the destroyed window of an apartment as they work to extinguish a fire after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Debris covers a bedroom damaged after a Russian attack destroyed a building across the street, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A destroyed self propelled artillery unit is seen on a road near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A woman carries the portrait of Dmytro Stefienko, 32, a civilian killed during the war with Russia, during his funeral in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire after a Russian attack destroyed the building of a Culinary School in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
French forensics investigators, who arrived to Ukraine for the investigation of war crimes amid Russia's invasion, stand next to a mass grave in the town of Bucha, in Kyiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Wladyslaw Musiienko)
Relatives and friends attend the funeral of Andriy Matviychuk, 37, who served as territorial defense soldier, and was captured and killed by Russian army in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Writing covers a wall and a door in the basement of a school in Yahidne, near Chernihiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Residents say more than 300 people were trapped for weeks by Russian occupiers in the basement of the school in Yahidne. They wrote the names of people who died during the Russian occupation of their village. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Valentina Saroyan sits in the basement of a school in Yahidne, near Chernihiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Residents say more than 300 people were trapped for weeks by Russian occupiers in the basement of the school in Yahidne. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Carolina Fedorova, 3, sleeps inside a school that is being used as a shelter for people who fled the war, in Dnipro city, Ukraine on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Carolina fled with her parents and four siblings from the city of Bahmud. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Anatoliy Morykin, 45, left, mourns the death of his mother Valentyna Morykina, 82, who died in a retirement home due to poor living conditions during the Russian invasion in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Nadiya Trubchaninova, 70, left, stands next to volunteers while loading a plastic bag that contains the body of a civilian killed by Russian soldiers into a truck, in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Marta Fedorova holds her baby boy as her son Volodymir 6, and her daughter Violetta 5, right, sit inside a school that is being used as a shelter for people who fled the war, in Dnipro city, Ukraine, on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Marta Fedorova with her husband and five children fled from the city of Bahmud. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Danyk Rak, 12, holds a cat standing on the debris of his house destroyed by Russian forces' shelling in the outskirts of Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. After shelling Danyk's mother Liudmila Koval had to have her leg amputated and was injured in her abdomen. She is still waiting for proper medical treatment. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Men walk in a street destroyed by shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Men wearing protective gear exhume the bodies of civilians killed during the Russian occupation in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Natalya Verbova, 49, and her son Roman Verbovyi, 23, attend the funeral of her husband Andriy Verbovyi, 55, who was killed by Russian soldiers while in the territorial defense in Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday , April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
The father and a friend of Anatoliy Kolesnikov, 30, who was killed by Russian soldiers in his car trying to evacuate from Irpin, mourns his death while waiting outside the morgue in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday , April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A woman collects wooden planks in a street destroyed by shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Children play in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Graves of local residents who died during the fighting with Russia are seen in a street behind private houses in an area that Russian-backed separatists claim to control in the Ukraine city of Mariupol, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
Engineers inspect the state of destruction of the bridge that connects Kyiv with Irpin, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire after shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Marienko)
A school director Iryna Homenko walks in the hall of the school damaged by an airstrike from Russian forces in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A local resident prepares to cook at an entrance of a building damaged during fighting in Mariupol, in an area that Russian-backed separatists claim to control in the Ukraine city of Mariupol, Wednesday, April 13, 2022.(AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
A firefighter works at a central stadium damaged by Russian forces' shelling in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People walk past a crater from an explosion in Chernihiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) servicemen enter a building during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Firefighters try to extinguish the fire at a damaged factory following a Russian bombing in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Nadiya Trubchaninova, 70, stands in her bedroom holding a portrait of her sons Oleg Trubchaninov, 46, and Vadym, 48, who was killed by Russian soldiers last March 30 in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A woman looks for goods dropped from the apartment building partly damaged by shelling, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)
A Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) serviceman plays with a cat during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
Rifles and an axe lay in a field where Ukrainian soldiers dig a trench in case of another Russian invasion, in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Women wait at a bus station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Firefighters try to extinguish the fire at a damaged factory following a Russian bombing in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Volunteers carry the body of a man killed during the war to a refrigerated container in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
A woman looks as Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) servicemen enter a building during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
A cemetery worker carries a cross for the tomb of Tetyana Gramushnyak, 75, who was killed by shelling on March 19 while cooking food outside her home in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Flowers and toys were left on a fence at the railway station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. A missile strike killed at least 59 people and wounded dozens more when a rocket hit the railway station on Friday, April 8. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
A Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) serviceman detains a man suspected to be a Russian collaborator in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
People look at a crater of an explosion in a village of Horodnya, Chernihiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/George Ivanchenko)
A cemetery worker takes a rest from working on the graves of civilians killed in Bucha during the war with Russia, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
