Among the unusual aspects of the division, the Times reports, is that “Soloviev expressed the idea that Ukraine had managed to sink Moscow, one of the largest naval casualties in the world since World War II.” Ukraine says it has hit Moscow with two Nepunei anti-ship missiles. Russia says it was damaged by fire and sank. Photographs showing the damaged Moskva being towed before sinking surfaced online on Sunday. The United States says Ukraine has hit Moscow with “two Poseidons,” a senior Pentagon official said Friday, calling it a “major blow” to Moscow. A day earlier, a Pentagon staffer who assisted in compiling the report said that four or five Russian “other Black Sea ships operating near it or in the northern Black Sea have moved further away” from Ukraine. Russia’s naval withdrawal off the coast of Ukraine suggests it considers the threat real, says Japan’s Nikkei from Istanbul, but “in case Russia wants to send more ships to the Black Sea to replace Moskva or withdraw “The Black Sea Fleet in the Mediterranean must persuade Turkey to open the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles.” Turkey has closed both straits to warships, except those returning to their ports from Russian invasion under the 1936 Montreux Convention. “If Putin’s plans continue to include an amphibious attack on Odessa or require a significant naval presence to keep up the pressure on Ukraine, he will need to bring additional ships to the Black Sea, and that is not going to happen,” said Soner Cagaptay, an expert. in Turkey at the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy, says the Nikkei. “Turkey would have to violate Montreux, something it would never do, to allow more navy ships to enter.” An unknown Turkish official agreed with this assessment. The story goes on “The sunken Moskva sister ships, the other Slava Varyag and Marshal Ustinov class cruisers, are flying to the eastern Mediterranean,” and if Moscow sets up one of its new Black Sea flagships, it will force Turkey to do something difficult. options, Turkish Minute notes. “Marshal Ustinov is affiliated with the Northern Fleet and Varyag is the flagship of the Pacific Fleet.”

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