The commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet who Kiev announced was killed in a missile strike in Crimea appears in a Russian Defense Ministry video
The commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, Viktor Sokolov, whom the Ukrainian army announced Monday that it had killed last week, appeared in photos distributed by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Tuesday.
On Monday, the Ukrainian army announced that it had killed “34 officers, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” in a missile strike on Friday on the Navy headquarters in Sebastopol in the Crimean Peninsula.
Sokolov appeared in the video link in military uniform on a large screen alongside other senior military officials as they participated in a video meeting chaired by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
A statement issued by the Russian Ministry of Defense, which did not mention the name of the official, noted that the meeting took place on Tuesday.
In an eight-minute video later distributed by the ministry, Sokolov appears on screen several times without speaking.
Minutes before the statement was published, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that he had no information about the commander’s status and referred questions to the Russian Defense Ministry.
On Friday, Russia indicated that only one soldier was missing after the attack that caused significant damage to the Russian Navy headquarters in the Black Sea, after it had previously reported that one person had been killed.
This attack reflected the difficulties faced by Russian air defense systems in repelling regular strikes on the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014 and which Moscow forces consider an important strategic point.
