The Russian warship sunk by Ukraine carried “an ancient Christian relic piece of the True Cross on which Jesus was crucified

THE Russian warship Moskva sunk by Ukraine may have had a piece of the True Cross on board, a Russian Orthodox priest has claimed.

The whereabouts of a piece of the True Cross, which believers say is the wood the cross on which Jesus was crucifiedwere questioned.

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It comes as the Christian world celebrates Easter, which marks the death and resurrection of Jesus.

In early 2020, the Russian Orthodox Church said the tiny relic, which had belonged to the Catholic Church, was bought by an “anonymous patron of the arts,” according to the Russian state news agency TASS.

“It was her will to send the relic to her [Black Sea] Fleet. The Moskva cruiser has an onboard chapel where services are held,” Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sevastopol District Sergiy Khalyuta told TASS.

The relic, made from wood chips, is only a few millimeters long, the church said.

It is embedded in a 19th-century metal cross, which is then kept in a special reliquary – or container for such relics.

According to the church, in the February 26, 2022 report, the relic was handed over to Vice Admiral Igor Osipov, commander of the Black Sea Fleet, and would be handed over to the guided-missile cruiser Moskva “soon”.

The location of the piece of the True Cross is unclear.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian officials called for theirs Armed forces had hit the Moskva with rockets during the war with Russia.

Moscow confirmed fire on board but no attack.

The news comes after fears were raised Moskva also carried nuclear weapons and could now lie on the bottom of the sea.

The trigger was the sinking of the Soviet-era Moskva in the Black Sea Russia to launch a furious retaliation, and later claimed to have blitzed the factory making the missiles that sank her prized flagship.

The Defense Ministry said it launched rockets Thursday night at the Vizar facility on the outskirts of Kyiv, which it says is making Neptune anti-ship missiles.

The Moskva – a 40-year-old symbol of Russian military might – remained a smoldering wreck after suffering two direct missile hits in the attack, and later went under while being towed to Crimea’s Sevastopol naval port.

According to recent reports from Ukraine on Friday, the Moskva’s captain died in the humiliating missile attack.

REPORTS CAPTAIN KILLED

According to Kiev sources, 44-year-old first rank captain Anton Kuprin was killed after the ship was hit by Neptune missiles.

He “died in an explosion and fire on board the former flagship of the Russian Federation’s Black Sea Fleet,” said Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the Kyiv Interior Ministry.

The official added, “We are not mourning.”

Other sources support the claim that Capt Kuprin was killed.

However, there was no immediate confirmation from Moscow about Kuprin Russia failed to announce many prominent military deaths in the 51-day war.

Russia has claimed the crew has been evacuated, but there are increasing fears of lives lost on the battleship.

CREW SECRET

It has been claimed that only around 50 of the crew are counted – they were picked up by a Turkish ship.

Another 14 were reportedly flown to the port of Sevastopol, leaving around 450 whose fate remains a mystery.

Video from Sevastopol overnight shows dozens of cars said to belong to the sailors still parked in the port – suggesting their owners didn’t come to pick them up.

A “farewell ceremony” from the Moskva is scheduled to take place today in Sevastopol at a monument honoring the 300th anniversary of the Russian fleet.

The attack left a Russian tyrant in its wake Wladimir Putin Craving bloody revenge, he immediately retaliated with a brutal new bombing campaign.

And he promised more strikes against the Ukrainian capital, which is seeking revenge for the loss of the 12,490-ton monster.

In a statement, Russia’s Defense Ministry said: “The number and scale of rocket attacks on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory by the nationalist Kiev regime.”

According to Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko, strikes shook the capital Kyiv later on Thursday evening.

In a tweet late Thursday, she said: “Right now three explosions in #Kiev. One after the other.

“The air raid warning has been running for an hour. Most likely, #putin got angry because of the sinking of the #Moskva.

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“Okay, we’re just stopping to annoy #Russia.”

Social media videos have shown skies over Kyiv lit up with countless explosions in what appear to be the heaviest attacks since Russia pulled out of the capital earlier this month.

Explosions were also heard in the southern city of Kherson, the eastern city of Kharkiv and in the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Nuclear Weapons Horror

As well as the biggest loss since the BelgranoThe Moskva is the largest naval object sunk since World War II.

But in a chilling revelation, sources say there are now genuine concerns that there are multiple nuclear missiles on the ship.

BlackSeaNews editor-in-chief Andriy Klymenko called for an urgent international investigation into whether the Moskva is carrying nuclear weapons.

“Friends and experts say there are two nuclear warheads for cruise missiles on board the Moskva,” he said.

“Perhaps this is new information for many, but it is true” – the warship is “a carrier of nuclear weapons”.

He asked: “Where are these warheads? Where were you when the ammunition exploded? Where is the point on the map, the coordinates?”

The Ukrainian online newspaper Defense Express also warned of the threat of nuclear warheads from the sunken Moskva.

They said: “There is a real possibility that the affected flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet could have had nuclear munitions on board.

“In addition to the P-1000 “Vulkan” missiles, the nuclear missile cruiser Moskva could carry other nuclear weapons.”

Amid the chilling reports of possible nuclear weapons in the Black Sea, a village in Russia’s border region with Belarus, where a military base is located, was attacked on Thursday.

The attack followed explosions at a munitions depot and oil plant in Belgorod and along a nearby railway line.

Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday morning showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh attacks were underway.

It comes as the ministry said its forces had also taken full control of the Ilyich Steelworks in the besieged port city of Mariupol.

Russia said Wednesday that 1,026 soldiers from Ukraine’s 36th Naval Brigade, including 162 officers, surrendered near the steel plant.

Mariupol, which has been encircled by Russian troops for weeks, has seen the fiercest fighting and most widespread destruction since Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24.

On Thursday evening, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his people for withstanding a relentless 50-day Russian onslaught.

He branded the resistance “an achievement of millions of Ukrainians”.

The defiant leader also praised “everyone who made the most important decision of their lives on February 24th – to fight”.

He continued to taunt Russia, saying, “They didn’t know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the opportunity to live the way we want.”

His comments came amid a chorus of world leaders asking Zelenskyi to leave the country.

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