The Neptune anti-ship missile: The weapon that can sink cruisers

And: a small island of strategic importance

It was a home-made Ukrainian weapon - two R-360 Neptune anti-ship missiles, to be precise - that brought the defenders what was probably the most memorable victory of the war so far: the sinking of the Russian Black Sea flagship Moskva. Why was the Moskva so symbolically important for both sides?

On the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" to "demilitarise and denazify" Ukraine, the guided missile cruiser "Moskva", the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, arrived off the tiny Snake Island accompanied by the patrol ship "Vasily Bykov" and demanded the surrender of the 13 soldiers stationed there. The response from a Ukrainian was crude, but spread on the internet. The Russians quickly overran the island, but later agreed to release the defenders in exchange for some of their own captured soldiers.

The decision to develop Ukraine's own ASM was made when Russian troops invaded and annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014. The R-360 Neptun, which is based on the Russian Kh-35 cruise missile, made its public debut at the 2015 International Arms and Security Fair in the Ukrainian capital. Measuring 16 feet in length and weighing 1,920 pounds with a 330-pound warhead, the Neptune can be fired up to 16 miles from shore, with a maximum range of 190 miles. Although its speed of 900 kilometres per hour is subsonic, the missile has the potential to evade enemy radar by flying at altitudes of 10 to 15 metres or even as low as 3 to 10 metres.

Ukrainian strikes against Russian ships are more than just lucky strikes

The destruction or damage of at least eight Russian units in recent weeks has boosted the morale of Ukraine, which has managed to fight them even without its own naval assets. But it also points to an emerging strategic effort to break the blockade of the Black Sea, which is strangling the Ukrainian economy. Since 21 March, Ukrainian missile and drone attacks have damaged or sunk around four landing ships, three patrol boats and the cruiser "Moskva", the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, which sank in April.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence on Thursday, Russia has lost a total of around 13 ships since the start of its large-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. The attacks cannot be attributed to simple luck or opportunity strikes, said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow and director of the Hudson Institute's Centre for Defense Concepts and Technology. As the Washington Post reported on 5 May, the US provided intelligence information that helped in the sinking of the Moskva. However, some analysts believe that this assistance confirmed information Ukraine already had about the ship's location. The sinking of a landing ship and damage to two other vessels in the port of Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov at the end of March had heightened Russia's concerns about the vulnerability of its ships and pushed them further out to sea.

Snake Island suddenly takes on strategic importance: it controls access to the north-west Black Sea, protects Crimea and can control commercial shipping activities to and from Romania and Bulgaria. "If they (the Russians) give up Snake Island, the concern would be that Ukraine will put a bunch of Neptune missiles on it and turn it into an outpost from which it can deny access to the parts of the Black Sea that Russia cares about," Clark said. "(Ukraine) could almost deny access to Crimea if you put Neptune missile launchers on Snake Island."

Although Russia had lost some ships, around 20 of its ships and submarines remained in the Black Sea operational zone, the British Ministry of Defence tweeted on 28 April. "Despite the embarrassing losses of the landing ship Saratov and the cruiser Moskva, the Russian Black Sea Fleet remains capable of attacking Ukrainian and coastal targets," it said. Russia has also destroyed or seized numerous small Ukrainian military vessels, including several ships that were captured in Berdyansk on 14 March.

Sources: Jon Guttman/Alison Bath/ Stars and Stripes/military times/Turkishnavy.net.