Last week, Moscow confirmed that its Black Sea flagship Moskva had sunk after the survivors of her crew of 500 men had abandoned ship. It is the biggest naval loss to enemy action since WWII and a major blow to Russia’s military prestige as it wages a destructive war against Ukraine.

The tactically important Russian cruiser appeared to have been hit by two Ukrainian-developed Neptune anti-ship missiles fired from land-based launchers, according to analysts. Moscow denies these reports and claims that Moskva was damaged by a fire and sank.