Moscow Court ‘Deletes’ Ruling Confirming Ukraine Marines Sank Russian Flagship

A Moscow military court on Thursday inadvertently confirmed Ukrainian anti-ship missiles struck and sank the flagship of Russia’s once-powerful Black Sea Fleet (BSF), the heavy cruiser Moskva, but then quickly deleted the press release contradicting a longstanding Kremlin narrative about the naval defeat.

A verdict published by Russia’s 2nd Military District found Court Colonel Andriy Shubin, commander of the Ukrainian Marine Corps’ 406th Artillery Brigade, was directly complicit in sinking the warship by ordering his subordinates manning shore batteries to fire on the cruiser in an April 13, 2022, engagement, and killing and injuring Russian sailors and officers on board.

According to Ukrainian media and independent observers, a pair of Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship guided missiles struck, set fires on, and devastated the Moskva, an armored vessel weighing in at about 12,000 tons and at the time the biggest warship on the Black Sea by a significant margin.

Passing cargo ships photographed and video-recorded the Moskva’s crumbled superstructure and holed hull before the warship sank.

Western intelligence agencies credited Ukraine’s naval forces for the sinking. Kremlin news outlets first ignored the incident but later shifted to a narrative that the cruiser was lost after six hours of battles against an on-board fire caused by a short circuit, in rough seas, complicating damage control work.

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The Moscow court seemingly rejected the accidental sinking narrative pushed for years by Russian state media, instead holding Shubin (in absentia) directly responsible for the Moskva’s destruction and the death of 20 Russian sailors and injuries caused to 24 sailors aboard the cruiser. Another eight sailors remain missing in action because of “premeditated attack” against the Russian warship, the court found.

Russian military prosecutors had compiled “compelling evidence” that Shubin intentionally attacked the warships, which, the court finding said, had been “engaged in humanitarian support operations,” making the Ukrainian strikes and loss of life and damage caused by them “acts of international terrorism.”

One of the first overtly hostile acts of the entire Russo-Ukraine War took place on Feb. 24, 2022, when a Russian naval squadron led by its flagship, the Moskva, approached the Ukraine-held Snake (Zmiinyi) Island, some 65 km (40 miles) west of Romania, and ordered troops there to surrender or be fired upon.

The Ukrainian response reportedly radioed by Border Troops officer Roman Hribov – “Russian warship, go f*ck yourself!” – became an international meme and an early emblem of Ukrainian defiance to Russia, but a Moskva-led bombardment crushed resistance on the island. Hribov was taken prisoner and later released.

Colonel Shubin’s “guilt” for actions leading to the Moskva’s sinking nearly two months later on high seas to the south of Snake Island oblige that Ukrainian officer – should Russian authorities ever detain him – to serve a prison sentence later to be determined by a judge and payment of a 2,233,307,584.88 ruble ($29,390,000) fine for damages caused to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the statement said.

An April 3 Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) strike damaging the Russian navy frigate Admiral Zossen, likewise in Black Sea international waters 100-150 km (62-93 miles) east of Romania’s Danube delta region, likewise was ordered by Shubin in violation of Russian law, the court statement said.

The official press release detailing the court’s ruling and penalties faced by Shubin was visible to the public for less than a day before authorities removed it, the independent Russian news platform Mediazona reported, in a Thursday report publishing a screenshot of the deleted court findings.

A Kyiv Post Friday request to the Moscow 2nd Military Court for comment had not been responded to by the time this article was published.

Lacking a navy of its own, the AFU, following the Russian invasion, have used missiles, drones, and even long-range artillery to defeat Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in about 18 months and force surviving warships to evacuate their home base port Sevastopol, in the occupied Crimea peninsula.

Surviving elements of the BSF currently are based primarily in the Russian Krasnodar region port city of Novorossiysk in the eastern end of the Black Sea. The first Ukrainian long-range strikes against Russian naval forces there, primarily with robot speed boats loaded with explosives, were launched in mid-2025 and have intensified since then.

Probably the most successful attack against Russian naval forces in Novorossiysk took place on Dec. 15 when newly developed underwater drones launched by Ukraine’s national intelligence service penetrated harbor barriers to attack a Russian Varshavyanka-class diesel-electric missile submarine tied up there. Security cams recorded a massive explosion detonating below the surface in the vicinity of the sub’s stern and propeller section.

Russian state media claimed the Ukrainian strike failed because, per video of the attack, the submarine was not visibly hit. The Russian military news outlet Zvezda reported the sub remained combat-capable and accused the SBU of lying about the strike’s effects and pretending a harmless underwater explosion had caused significant damage.

Independent media citing ground eyewitnesses and civilian satellite overflight imagery confirmed cracking and scorching to reinforced concrete piers next to the submarine, consistent with a powerful underwater explosion, and naval repair crews on site 24/7. Some imagery showed oil possibly from a hull rupture in the water around the sub.

Satellite imagery recorded by the commercial company PlanetLabs on Jan. 19 and published by the news agency Radio Liberty showed the boat had not, in more than a month, moved from the moorings it was at during the December attack. Ukrainian military analysts have suggested the sub’s prolonged immobility strongly suggests serious propulsion, steering, or hull damage preventing operational readiness, notwithstanding Moscow claims that the boat was undamaged.