Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has stated that the Moskva missile cruiser should not have been in the Black Sea. Still, the Russians “dragged this rusty bucket into the destruction zone”, and the Ukrainians took advantage of it. Zaluzhnyi believes that Ukraine will reach the Russian frigate Admiral Essen, the Russian corvette Samum and other remnants of the Russian fleet.
Source: Zaluzhnyi in an interview with Dmytro Komarov in the film Rik. Za Kadrom (A Year. Behind the scenes)
Quote: “We were interested in reducing and, in the future, completely depriving the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation of any activity in the Black Sea. For this, we had some opportunities, and for this, we had, let’s say, a rather small chance to use these opportunities.
The sinking of the Moskva cruiser itself, of course, is of strategic importance for us because it was a carrier of cruise missiles after all. But, answering the question of whether we have fully fulfilled our plans, I would like to say that we have not yet and that we are continuing the work. We will definitely get to… Essen [Russian frigate], and Samum [Russian corvette] and the rest, it’s only a matter of time…
The Moskva cruiser is like huge columns that were moving towards Kyiv Oblast: the fearlessness of resistance, the impossibility of imagining that the second army of the world could be damaged or destroyed; [Russians] dragged these columns near Kyiv, which we burned, and likewise dragged that rust bucket into the immediate area of destruction, and we had to take advantage of this chance.
This is who Ukrainians are, and they did not miss this chance. At the same time, some other [vessels] were somehow affected as well; let’s leave it to history for now.”
Details: He also mentioned the liberation of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island.
As he states, the island currently has no strategic importance as a defence hub.
Zaluzhnyi believes the Russians made a “huge mistake” when they dragged people, guns and missiles to Zmiinyi.
At the same time, there was Russian air defence equipment on the island, which made it difficult for Ukrainian aviation. These air defence systems covered a large part of the territory of Ukraine.
Quote: “To make sure that there is no one there is very good. Getting the Russians out of there was an extremely important task.”
Background:
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On 14 April 2022, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Moskva missile cruiser, sank in the Black Sea. It happened after Ukrainian anti-ship missiles hit the cruiser.
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It was the Moskva cruiser that proposed surrendering to the defenders of Zmiinyi (Snake) Island.
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