Local media reports state that the Russian Navy’s flagship caught fire.
The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s sole aircraft carrier, was docked at the Zvyozdochka shipyard in the far-northwest Russian port city of Murmansk when the fire broke out, according to news agency Tass.
On Thursday morning, an emergency services source informed the organization that 20 people had been evacuated, the fire had been put out, and “there were no injuries.”
The event happened during repair work, according to Alexei Rakhmanov, president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), which is in charge of managing the vessel’s refurbishment.
Since 2018, the Admiral Kuznetsov has been out of commission and receiving repairs in a dry dock.
The 1,300-person crew of the 43,000-ton, 1,000-foot battleship is equipped with anti-ship and air defense missile systems. Officials announced that repairs will be completed by the first quarter of 2024 and that they were on schedule in November 2022.
When “obstructions” were discovered in several areas of the ship in November, Rakhmanov told reporters in Moscow that “the work is on track” and that “we will do everything to make this happen.”