Russia may rethink Black Sea strategy after sinking of warship Moskva; Germany seizes world's largest yacht tied to Russian billionaire

The loss of Russia's Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva is likely to force the Kremlin to review its maritime strategy in the Black Sea, according to a Western assessment.

Ukraine said that it struck the Moskva on Wednesday with two cruise missiles. Moscow admitted that the missile cruiser Moskva sank on Thursday, but blamed it on onboard ammunition that detonated.

A Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday that the United States could confirm neither story.

Regardless, the Moskva was Russia's command vessel on the Black Sea, and it was critical to the Russian fleet's air defense strategy, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence assessment posted Friday.

"This incident means Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russia's Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March," the Ministry of Defence said.

"Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea," the ministry said.

Military analysts have speculated that the Moskva would have played an important role in any amphibious attack on Odesa, Ukraine's most important maritime port.

The Soviet-era Moskva was refitted to improve its capabilities and returned to operational status last year, the British ministry said. It played roles in Russia's bombing of Syria in 2015, its invasion of Crimea in 2014, and its war with Georgia in 2008.

Russia has claimed that its crew of 510 individuals was safely evacuated.

— Ted Kemp

Two U.S. lawmakers visited Ukraine on Thursday, becoming the first known American officials to do so since Russia began its offensive on Feb. 24.

Senator Steve Daines (R-MO) and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), who was born in Ukraine, traveled to there to meet Ukrainian officials in the capital of Kyiv and Bucha, where Russian troops have been accused of mass atrocities.

"There is indisputable evidence of Putin's war crimes everywhere — the images of shallow mass graves filled with civilians, women and children are heart wrenching," Daines said in a statement.

"America and the world need to know about Putin's atrocities against the innocent people of Ukraine now, not after time has passed and the aftermath of evil and bloodshed have been cleaned up. The sooner we can provide Ukraine with the lethal aid they need to win this war, the sooner we will end the war crimes."

The bodies and mass graves were found after Russian troops pulled out of Bucha, a suburb on the outskirts of Kyiv. The atrocities prompted the UN to suspend Russia from its seat on the Human Rights Council and pushed the U.S. and European leaders to impose more sanctions on Moscow.

— Joanna Tan

The head of the U.N. World Food Program said people are being "starved to death" in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol and he predicted the country's humanitarian crisis is likely to worsen as Russia intensifies its assault in the coming weeks.

WFP executive director David Beasley also warned in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press in Kyiv that Russia's invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilizing nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere.

The war that began Feb. 24 was "devastating the people in Ukraine," Beasley said, lamenting the lack of access faced by the WFP and other aid organizations in trying to reach those in need amid the conflict.

The fluid nature of the conflict, which has seen fighting shift away from areas around the capital and toward eastern Ukraine, has made it especially difficult to reach hungry Ukrainians.

The WFP is trying to put food supplies now in areas that could be caught up in the fighting, but Beasley acknowledged that there are "a lot of complexities" as the situation rapidly evolves.

— Associated Press

Canada is sending soldiers to Poland to help with the care, co-ordination and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, including some who will come to Canada.

Defense Minister Anita Anand announced the deployment of up to 150 troops Thursday.

More than 2.6 million Ukrainians have fled into Poland since the first Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on Feb. 24 and over 2 million more have fled into other surrounding countries.

Anand said the majority of the deployed troops will head to reception centers across Poland to help care for and register Ukrainian refugees.

Another group is being sent to help co-ordinate international aid efforts.

Canada has deployed hundreds of additional troops to eastern Europe since Russia's invasion as the NATO military alliance seeks to both support Ukraine and prevent the conflict from expanding into a broader war.

— Associated Press

Authorities in Ukraine have seized more than 150 assets belonging to Viktor Medvedchuk, the former media mogul and politician charged with treason for allegedly conspiring with the Kremlin to overthrow Ukraine's elected government.

The assets included 26 cars, 32 apartments, 23 houses, 30 plots of land, 17 parking spots and a yacht, according to an announcement from Ukraine's equivalent of the FBI.

Medvedchuk was captured this week after more than a month on the run, following his escape from house arrest in the days just after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine.

A top Ukrainian official also described for the first time the high-stakes mission to recapture Medvedchuk.

Russian agents allegedly planned to smuggle Medvedchuk out of Ukrainian territory first by boat into the Russian-occupied region of the country, and from there on to Moscow.

— Christina Wilkie

A Russian warship stationed in the Black Sea and allegedly damaged by a Ukrainian missile strike has sunk, according to a Russian state-owned media report.

"The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reports that when the cruiser Moskva was towed to the port of destination due to damage to the hull received during the fire caused by the detonation of ammunition, the ship lost stability," RIA reported, according to an NBC News translation.

"The ship sank in a stormy sea," the media organization added.

Earlier on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. had no reason to refute Ukrainian reports that the vessel was struck by a Ukrainian missile.

He added that the U.S. military was also not in a position to confirm those reports either.

Kirby said the vessel was operating about 60 miles south of Odesa when it suffered an explosion.

"We don't know what caused that explosion," Kirby said. "We've seen the social media reports that this one, maybe a Ukrainian coastal defense missile hit it. We can't rule that out; we just don't have enough information right now."

A senior U.S. Defense official said earlier on Thursday that following the explosion and significant fire on the Moskva, about six warships in the northern Black Sea moved south.

"At this point, we hold them no closer than about 80 nautical miles from the coast," the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said. "But ships move and I can't predict where there'll be an hour from now."

The official added that Moskva appeared to still be operating under its own power and was in the process of being towed for repairs.

— Amanda Macias

German authorities seized the world's largest superyacht following official confirmation that the vessel has links to Russian billionaire and business tycoon Alisher Usmanov.

The vessel was restricted from leaving its anchorage by German authorities on March 3, according to a senior Biden administration official with knowledge of the matter.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said last month that the yacht had not been physically seized but rather was not allowed to move from its location in the German port city of Hamburg. The person added that more measures would be taken later.

A German official confirmed to CNBC that the motor yacht was linked to Usmanov and therefore is subject to asset seizure.

The extraordinary yacht, named "Dilbar" after Usmanov's mother, extends over 500 feet and is equipped with the largest indoor swimming pool ever installed on a private vessel. The Department of Treasury estimates that the current value of Usmanov's yacht is approximately $735 million.

Usmanov and his superyacht entered the crosshairs of the U.S. and its allies last month when the Biden administration announced additional sanctions on Russian elites with Kremlin ties.

A Treasury official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said any action taken by German authorities would not involve transferring the vessel to the United States under the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, sanctions.

The sanctions listing Usmanov's yacht as blocked property effectively mean that any transactions related to the yacht — including maintenance, the hiring of crew or the payment of docking fees — conducted with U.S. persons or in U.S. dollars are prohibited.

— Amanda Macias

The United Kingdom has frozen assets belonging to two Russian oligarchs worth up to 10 billion pounds (US$13 billion).

The actions against Eugene Tenenbaum and David Davidovich, two close associates of the better-known Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, represent the largest asset freeze action in British history.

The asset freeze came one day after authorities on the offshore tax haven island of Jersey froze assets valued at more than $7 billion that are also suspected of being connected to Abramovich. This brings the combined value of the frozen assets to as much as $20 billion.

Officials said the Jersey judgement against Abramovich and the British actions against Tenenbaum and Davidovich were coordinated.

The Channel Island of Jersey has long served as a secretive offshore corporate tax haven where some of the world's wealthiest people hide their assets via mazes of shell companies.

— Christina Wilkie

The Russian ruble weakened on Thursday, driven by expectations that Russia may relax its temporary capital control measures further, while stocks fell sharply as the country continued what it calls "a special military operation" in Ukraine.

The Russian central bank is considering easing requirements for mandatory foreign currency revenue sales by export-focused companies, business daily Vedomosti reported, citing a central bank official.

Currently, Russian exporters are obliged to sell 80% of their forex revenues in the first three days after receiving it under a rule established by President Vladimir Putin in late February to limit the ruble's volatility amid Western sanctions.

The ruble ended trading on Moscow Exchange 1.3% lower at 80.90, heading away from its strongest level since Nov. 11 of 71 it hit last week.

— Reuters

Ukraine's southern military command said it hit the Moskva warship warship with a Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship missile and that it had started to sink.

Russia said the crew were evacuated after an explosion of ammunition aboard, and a U.S. defense official said the stricken vessel was still trying to put out a fire.

Reuters was unable to verify any of the various statements.

Russia's defense ministry said a fire on the Soviet-era missile cruiser had been contained but left the ship badly damaged. It did not acknowledge the ship, which had more than 500 sailors aboard, had been attacked and said the cause of the fire was under investigation.

— Reuters

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed additional sanctions and the latest $800 million security assistance package.

"In our new call, @SecBlinken and I discussed the next military aid package for Ukraine and coordinated positions on further sanctions which will be imposed on Russia," Kuleba wrote in a tweet announcing the call between the two.

In a separate tweet, Blinken said he "reinforced the United States' continued support for Ukraine" with Kuleba.

State Department spokesman Ned Price wrote in a separate statement that the two discussed other security assistance for Ukraine's defense and gave an update on the current material supply from the United States and its allies.

— Amanda Macias

The threat of Russia potentially using tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine cannot be taken lightly, but the CIA has not seen a lot of practical evidence reinforcing that concern, CIA Director William Burns said.

In a speech at Georgia Tech, Burns referred to the "potential desperation" and military setbacks that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government have suffered since moved forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

For those reasons, "none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons," Burns said.

That said, despite "rhetorical posturing" by the Kremlin about putting the world's largest nuclear arsenal on high alert, "We haven't seen a lot of practical evidence of the kind of deployments or military dispositions that would reinforce that concern."

— Reuters

A senior U.S. Defense official said that about six warships in the northern Black Sea have moved south following an apparent explosion and significant fire on a Russian vessel.

"At this point, we hold them no closer than about 80 nautical miles from the coast," the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity said. "But ships move and I can't predict where there'll be an hour from now," the official said.

Earlier on Thursday, Ukrainian officials claimed that the Russian warship, the Moskva, stationed in the Black Sea was damaged by a missile strike. The U.S. was not able to independently confirm those reports.

"The cruiser we believe was between 60 and 65 nautical miles south of Odesa, almost exactly due south when it experienced an explosion," the official said, adding that they didn't know what caused the explosion or fire. "We do believe that the ship is still battling with a fire," the person added.

— Amanda Macias

Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko cheered a reportedly successful missile strike on the elite Russian warship Moskva as both a major victory for Ukraine's military and a mark of progress against Russia's occupation of the Crimean Peninsula.

"This is, I think, the first step for the future deliberation of Crimea," Poroshenko said in an MSNBC interview. It is unclear whether Poroshenko, who spoke English with a thick accent, may have meant to say "liberation" instead of "deliberation."

"Because the bases for this flagship is Crimea," Poroshenko explained. "And they have many cruise missiles on the boat," each of which could lead to "dozens or maybe [hundreds of] Ukrainians killed," he added.

Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014. That same year, Poroshenko was elected president of Ukraine after the nation's Russia-backed leader, Viktor Yanukovich, fled the country amid violent protests. Poroshenko was replaced by current President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2019. Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, Poroshenko had returned to Kyiv to face treason charges.

— Kevin Breuninger

Medical workers in Odesa held a free lesson on first aid and self help for civilians, including what to do if there's a threat of a chemical attack. 

— Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Biden administration is focused on ensuring Russia does not attempt to evade global sanctions for its war in Ukraine.

"What we have done is unprecedented in terms of a major economy to take this set of steps across financial sanctions, investment bans, the export controls," Sullivan said during a discussion with The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., adding "our focus will be in the course of the coming days is on evasion."

In the weeks since Russia's invasion of its ex-Soviet neighbor, Washington and its allies have imposed rounds of coordinated sanctions vaulting Russia past Iran and North Korea as the world's most-sanctioned country.

— Amanda Macias and Thomas Franck

Senior U.S. officials are wei