How Russian guided missile cruiser sank

New images emerged early Monday on social media showing Russia’s guided-missile cruiser, the Moskva, badly damaged and on fire in the hours before the ship sank in the Black Sea on Thursday.

The sinking of the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, was the biggest wartime loss of a naval ship in 40 years — and a huge embarrassment for Moscow.

The images show the Moskva listing to one side, with black holes from possible missile puncture marks, and significant scarring at and just above the waterline on the port (left) side of the middle of the vessel.

A large plume of black smoke can be seen billowing upwards, partly obscuring the front of the stricken ship.

Analysts told CNN the warship in the images looked like the Moskva, a Slava Class guided-missile destroyer.

Ukraine and Russia have provided conflicting accounts of what happened during Thursday’s incident in the Black Sea.

CNN