Moscow, April 23 : At least one person was killed and 27 went missing after the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet Moskva sunk earlier this month, according to Russian state media. The Moskva, a guided-missile cruiser, had sunk on April 14. Ukraine had claimed that the Moskva was hit with anti-ship missile that sparked a fire detonating stored amm tion. However, Russian Defence Ministry said it was a fire of unknown origin that detonated the amm tion causing explosions and leaving the cruiser with structural damage. Till April 19, the government had not acknowledged any casualties. Sputnik quoted the Russian Defence Ministry as saying in a statement on late Friday, “As a result of a fire on April 13, the Moskva missile cruiser was seriously damaged due to the detonation of amm tion. Attempts by the crew to extinguish the fire did not succeed. “During the fight for the ship’s survivability, one serviceman was killed, another 27 crew members were missing. The remaining 396 crew members were evacuated from the cruiser to the ships of the Black Sea Fleet in the area and delivered to Sevastopol.” According to CNN photos and a short video clip emerged on April 18 on social media showing the Moskva badly damaged and on fire in the hours. The images also showed the cruiser listing to one side, black holes from possible missile puncture marks, and scarring just above the waterline on the port (left) side in the middle of the vessel before it sank. The Moskva’s sinking constitutes a major military embarrassment for Russia, as it was the biggest wartime loss of a naval ship in 40 years, CNN reported. RNJ