The Russian warship, Moskva was destroyed by a Ukrainian strike. The experts warned on Friday that it might be carrying nukes.
US officials disputed the assessment that the 12,500 Moskva could be carrying nuclear weapons when it sank.
The US officials have been monitoring the battlefield for unusual movements, yet they haven’t encountered any.
Mykhailo Sarmus, deputy director of the Lyiv-based Center for Army, alarmed the situation on Thursday.
He said that the warship could be carrying two nuclear warheads.
Despite this, the threat of the ship’s weapons comes just weeks after stubborn Russian President Putin put his country’s nuclear weapons on high alert when the invasion began.
Dmitry Peskov warned that Putin would use nukes if he suspects an existential threat.
The failure has been described as a huge loss for invading the country.
In Washington, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the ship’s sinking has dealt a “big blow” to the Russian fleet.
While, Ukraine calls for further international investigation to understand the situation.
Andrii Klymenko, editor in chief of Ukraine’s BlackSeaNews portal, said, “Friends and experts say that there are two nuclear warheads for cruise missiles on board the Moskva.”
Klymenko asked the location of the warheads, and why didn’t they explode with the ammunition.
Ukraine’s news outlet noted that the Moskva was capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
According to its report, “The Moskva missile cruiser, which overturned and began to sink after being hit by R-360 Neptune missiles, is a carrier of nuclear weapons.”
It added, “In particular, these are anti-ship missiles P-1000 ‘Vulkan,’ of which the ship has 16 units. Each of them can be equipped with a nuclear warhead with a capacity of 350 (kiloton) or a conventional 500-kg high-explosive cumulative.”
And, “This information is not a secret at all, because this cruiser is designed to destroy aircraft carrier strike groups. But the main issue is the placement of P-1000 missiles.”
“That is, are nuclear munitions always on board, or are they loaded only by special order?” it continued.
Russia consists of nearly 6,000 warheads, making it the world’s largest stockpile.
It also includes missiles that can strike the US mainland.
