New Video Appears to Show Sinking Russian Warship Moskva

New footage purportedly showing the Russian missile warship Moskva, shortly before it sank in the Black Sea, has emerged online.

The short video appears to show the Moskva missile cruiser, Russia's flagship of its Black Sea Fleet, shrouded by a plume of black smoke.

Ukraine claims it struck the Soviet-era vessel with a pair of missiles. Moscow has maintained that the cruiser was damaged after a fire on board caused ammunition to detonate. The Pentagon has been unable to confirm yet how the Russian warship was destroyed.

The 3-second clip appears to be filmed from a nearby ship, and shows what appears to be a tug boat near the Moskva vessel as it burns intensely, and leans toward one side. The video ends abruptly after a man shouts: "You f***ing idiot! What the f**k are you doing?"

Earlier, an image purportedly showing the vessel was circulated on social media, and showed that the vessel's lifeboats had been deployed.

Newsweek has been unable to confirm the authenticity of the video and image. The video appears to have first been circulated by Osint researchers who are following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion against Ukraine.

Ukraine claimed to have sunk the Moskva with two Neptune missiles

The Russian ministry of defense told Russia's state-run newswire TASS that the vessel, which had roughly 500 personnel, "lost its stability due to damage to the hull received during the fire from the detonation of ammunition...during the towing of the Moskva cruiser to the port of destination."

"In the conditions of stormy seas, the ship sank," the Kremlin statement said.

The video and image circulating online do not appear to show adverse weather conditions.

Russia's ministry also reported that the entire crew was evacuated and taken to Sevastopol, a major port.

The Kremlin has yet to publicly announce any possible casualties among Moskva's crew members, but authorities have informed Russians that their relatives are "missing in action," according to social media posts on Russian social networking platform VKontakte.

Russian authorities on Saturday released a short video of an unofficial memorial service at a monument to the 300th anniversary of the Black Sea fleet that showed a wreath with a ribbon bearing the inscription "To the ship and sailors."

An advisor to the Ukrainian ministry, Anton Gerashcenko, gave an estimate of the number of dead Moskva crew members.

"There were 510 [crew] on the Moskva. This means that between 125 and 300 died. Mothers of Russia, wait for the funeral and thank Putin," he said.

On Monday, Russian independent news outlet The Insider reported that as many as 200 personnel may have been hospitalized.

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.