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Page 14 His Grace Magazine! April 2022

Flagship Moskva Sinks

Russian Warship is heavily damaged by the Ukrainians and sinks in the Black Sea

Russia's Black Sea flagship, a guided missile cruiser that was a target of the Ukrainians in the beginning of the war, sank on Thursday after it was heavily damaged April 14th.

Ukrainians say their armed forces hit the ship with a missile. Russia confirmed that a fire had broken out aboard the warship Moskva, but they said it wasn't from an attack. At the time, the United States and other Western officials were not able to confirm what had caused the fire.

This is a huge loss for Russia; the warship is named for the Russian capital and is a catastrophic symbolic loss for Moscow, as their soldiers are regrouping for another offensive in the eastern parts of Ukraine after they had to retreat from the northern areas which included the capital Kyiv.

The Russian Defense Minister had said that the ship sank during a storm while they were towing the ship to port. Russia had said earlier that the flames on the ship carrying 500 sailors caused them to evacuate the ship. Later they said the fire was under control and they would tow the ship back to port, with all the missile launchers undamaged.

The warship carries 16 long range cruise missiles and its sinking seriously decreases Russia's firepower in the Black Sea. Also, this is a blow to Russian reputation in this war, and it's already seen as a historic mistake. The war is now in its eighth week. The Russian invasion has completely stalled because of the hard, courageous fighting from the Ukrainian soldiers, everyone that has picked arms to fight and to the Western countries that have helped by sending much needed weapons.

When Russia first invaded Ukraine, the Moskva was the warship that told the Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island to surrender.

News of the warship's damage eclipsed the news of Russia's claims that they were advancing further into the southern port city of Mariupol, where they have been fiercely fighting the Ukrainians since the start of the war in late February.

Russia's Defense Minister said the ammunition that was on board the warship exploded as a result of the fire, but he didn't say what started the fire.

The Neptune weapon is an anti-ship missile that was recently developed by Ukraine that was based on an earlier Russian design. The launchers are on the back of trucks that are near the coast line. Washington said the missiles can hit targets up to 280 kilometers (175) miles away. The Moskva would have been in that range, where it was when the fire started.

April 2022 His Grace Magazine! Page 15

Advanced Lasers!

Israel deploying Advanced Laser Technology to shoot down Missiles or Rockets

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said that Israel has a laser system that will act as a wall of defense to stop rockets, missiles, and many other threats to their country. Prime Minster Bennett said as he was speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) conference, "In about a year, the IDF will launch a laser interception system. At first experimentally and later it will become operational. First in the south and then elsewhere. This will allow us, in the medium to long term, to surround Israel with laser wall that protects us from missiles, rockets, UAVs and other threats. In fact, it will take away the strongest card the enemy has against us."

The Israeli Defense officials had previously predicted that the laser technology would not be in operation until 2025. Prime Minister Bennett said that they had notably speeded things up on the system's development.

The Prime Minister said that the laser technology might one day take over Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system that the country depends on to shoot down rockets that are fired on Israel by terrorists from the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Bennett said, "If it is possible to intercept a missile or rocket with just an electric pulse that costs a few dollars, we will have nullified the ring of fire that Iran has set up on our borders."

Prime Minister Bennett also said, "The new generation of Israeli air defense could also serve our friends in the region who are also exposed to severe threats from Iran and its proxies. This is another way in which we will create assets, use them and give what we have to the world in order to gain support, create alliances and become even stronger."

Prime Minister Bennett's statement came only days after Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Yemen had launched a missile attack against the United Arab Emirates.

The Prime Minister also talked on the situation with the nuclear negotiations that are happening now with the world powers, that are being held with Iran in Vienna. He said, "We hope that they conclude without an agreement. But even with an agreement, our assessment is that the Iranians will continue to be Iranians. The Israeli strategy remains the same in case of an agreement, which in any case only buys a very short amount of time until the sunset clause, or in the event that there is no agreement. In both cases, our campaign continues."