Video Shows Russia's Moskva Cruiser Hit by Ukraine's Neptune Missiles

Volodymyr Zelensky's presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych has shared a video to Twitter showing what he said was Russia's Moskva cruiser being struck by Ukraine's Neptune Missiles.

"Warehouses with ammunition of the 22nd Army Corps (Crimea) were destroyed," Arestovych tweeted, as translated by Newsweek.

"The flagship of the Russian navy, Moskva, carried out a negative surfacing operation in the area of that island where it was told to go f*** itself. Where is Moskva? It sunk"

The video is mostly pitch black except for a moment where a large flash is seen, said to be the Neptune missile striking the Russian vessel.

This video comes after Russia said that its missile cruiser Moskva was on fire.

Wall Street Journal's foreign affairs correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov shared a post from social media app Telegram highlighting this.

"Russia admits that the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet, missile cruiser Moskva, is on fire and evacuated after Ukraine says it hit with two Ukrainian-made Neptune cruise missiles. A potential turning point in the war," Trofimov tweeted.

The possibility of Russia replacing the potentially destroyed Moskva ship is also in doubt, according to a tweet by Daily Beast reporter David Axe.

"It gets worse for Russia. No way will Turkey allow one of the remaining two 'Slava'- class cruisers into the Black Sea to replace 'Moskva'", he tweeted.

"Russia lost half its naval firepower off Ukraine and can't restore it without going to war with NATO."

Maksym Marchenko, governor of the Odesa Oblast and former commander of a battalion of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, wrote earlier on Telegram that the Russian ship was hit by two Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles, causing "very serious damage" to the Moskva.

Moskva was the vessel that became famous at the beginning of the war for telling Ukrainian troops on Snake Island to surrender, only to be told to "f*** off."

An advisor to the Ukrainian ministry, Anton Gerashcenko, called on Russian mothers to thank Putin for this event while also giving an estimate of the number dead.

"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.

The director of the Russia Maritime Studies Institute at the US Naval War College, Michael Petersen, spoke about the significance of this attack and what it could mean for Ukrainians symbolically while speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today.

"I think it's one that has symbolic and military value," he said.

"This is the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, and it's getting a bit long in the tooth but it is the symbol of Russian naval power in the Black Sea.

"Russian navy may feel obligate to operate further off-shore now than they were previously."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.