Russian strike hits Kyiv missile factory

VYSHNEVE, Apr 15 (AFP): A Ukrainian military factory outside Kyiv that produced missiles allegedly used to hit Russia's Moskva warship was partly destroyed by overnight Russian strikes, an AFP journalist at the scene saw Friday.
A workshop and an administrative building at the Vizar plant, in the Kyiv suburb of Vyshneve near the international Zhuliany airport, were seriously damaged.
Around 50 vehicles parked near the plant had their windows blown out.
Russia had earlier announced it had hit the factory using Kalibr sea-based long-range missiles.
The strike came a day after Ukraine claimed it had destroyed Russia's Moskva warship, which Moscow later said had sunk.
According to a statement on Ukraine's state weapons manufacturer Ukroboronprom website, the Vizar factory produced Neptune missiles.
Andrei Sizov, a 47-year-old owner of a nearby wood workshop, said the strikes came at night.
"Around 1:30 am, my security guard called me because there was an air strike," he told AFP.
"There were five hits. My employee was in the office and got thrown off his feet by the blast."
He believes Russia was taking revenge for the Moskva warship, saying: "They are making us pay for destroying the Moskva."
The governor of Ukraine's southern Odessa region, Maxim Marchenko, had said Thursday that the Ukrainian army had used Neptune missiles to strike the Moskva.
Moscow did not confirm this explanation for the sinking of its massive vessel, saying only that a fire broke out on board the 186-metre-long ship.
It said the cruiser sank during an attempt to tow it to the nearest port.
While two workers at the site of the Vizar factory told AFP the strike had not caused any casualties, Ukrainian authorities did not immediately confirm this information.
At midday on Friday, cleaners were working to clear the rubble in the partly damaged administrative wing of the building.
Russian strikes in the Kyiv region have abated since the end of March, when Moscow withdrew its troops, saying it wanted to concentrate on Ukraine's south and east.
But Russia warned Friday that it would intensify attacks on the capital after accusing Ukraine of targeting Russian border towns.
Kyiv denied this, instead alleging Russia had staged the incidents to stir up "anti-Ukrainian hysteria" in the country.
Earlier, A Russian warship that was damaged by an explosion on Wednesday has sunk, Russia's defence ministry has said.
Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, was being towed to port when "stormy seas" caused it to sink, according to a ministry message.
The 510-crew missile cruiser was a symbol of Russia's military power, leading its naval assault on Ukraine.
Kyiv says its missiles hit the warship. Moscow has not reported any attack - it says the vessel sank after a fire.
The blaze caused the explosion of the warship's ammunition, Russia says, adding that the entire crew were later evacuated to nearby Russian vessels in the Black Sea.
After saying initially the warship was afloat, late on Thursday the Russian defence ministry announced that the Moskva had been lost.
The 12,490-tonne vessel is the biggest Russian warship to be sunk in action since World War Two.
"While being towed... towards the destined port, the vessel lost its balance due to damage sustained in the hull as fire broke out after ammunition exploded. Given the choppy seas, the vessel sank," the Russian defence ministry said.
Ukrainian military officials said they struck the Moskva with Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles - a weapon designed after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the naval threat to Ukraine in the Black Sea grew.
The ship's sinking was described by the US as a "big blow", but American officials were unable to confirm whether Ukrainian Neptune missiles were responsible.
"It's certainly plausible and possible that [Ukraine] did in fact hit this with a Neptune missile or maybe more," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said to CNN.
A senior Ukrainian official said as many as 510 crew could have been on board the Moskva.
On the first day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, the Moskva gained notoriety after calling on a small garrison of Ukrainian border troops defending Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender - to which they memorably radioed an expletive-laden message of refusal.
Originally built in the Soviet-era, the Moskva entered service in the early 1980s. The vessel was actually laid down in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv, which has been heavily bombed by Russia in recent days.
This is a significant and humiliating loss for Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly insisted that his "special military operation" in Ukraine is going according to plan.
Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Russian state media are not dwelling on the loss of the pride of the Black Sea fleet.
Morning TV bulletins limited themselves to briefly reporting the statement issued by the authorities, who claim the ship sank in stormy seas after fire and explosions on board caused significant damage to its hull.