What is “contested”? Even Russia has verified the ship sunk. The only date is whether it was the result of a Ukrainian attack, or if it was some sort of accident.
Russia claims it was a fire onboard.
Russia began towing the ship - and it continued to take on water and sank/capsized and dropped.
There was a Ukrainian attack on the ship.
Russia has said that they would ratchet up the air attacks in retribution for the sinking of this ship...
So - Putin denied Ukraine hit it - while simultaneously using the sinking as an excuse for ratcheting up indiscriminate air attacks on several Ukrainian cities.
The Russians can’t even keep their own narrative straight. I’m pretty sure that tells us a great deal about the real story.
Who’s your fav CNN anchor?