The Russian warship Moscow has been flooded, the Russian ministry announced.

Russia's Defense Ministry has issued a statement saying their warship Moskva, the main ship of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, has sunk.

It is still unclear whether it was hit by Ukrainian weapons.

The ship is believed to have suffered significant damage and is thought to have set sail for Sevastopol, Crimea, before sinking, reports

.

"The ship Moskva lost its stability when it withdrew in port due to damage to the hull of the ship that received during the fire from the explosion of ammunition.

"In stormy sea conditions, the ship sank," the ministry announced.

Moscow is 186 meters long with about 500 crew members and is the pride of the Russian Navy in the Black Sea.

Originally listed in the Soviet Navy as the Glory of the 1980s, the ship was renamed Moscow in 1995 and, after a renovation, re-entered service in 1998, according to the military website Naval-Technology.com.

Moscow is armed with a range of anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as torpedoes, naval cannons and missile defense systems.

Otherwise, Moscow is the second largest Russian naval ship that sank during the war in Ukraine.

In late March, Ukraine announced that a rocket attack had destroyed a Russian ship in the port of Berdyansk.