A prime Russian admiral has appeared in a video name – a day after Ukrainian particular forces claimed he had been killed in a missile strike.
Admiral Viktor Sokolov – the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and one in every of Russia’s most senior naval officers – was reportedly killed in final week’s strike on the naval port of Sevastopol, in keeping with Ukrainian officers.
The Russian Defence Ministry didn’t instantly reply when requested by information companies to verify or deny if Mr Sokolov had been killed.
However, the ministry launched a video on Tuesday showing to indicate Mr Sokolov attending a convention with different prime Russian army officers by way of video hyperlink.
Mr Sokolov was not seen talking within the footage of the convention – led by Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu.
It just isn’t clear when the footage was filmed, although Russia’s defence ministry claimed the assembly befell on Tuesday.
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Ukraine particular forces mentioned on Telegram: “Since the Russians were urgently forced to publish a response with Sokolov allegedly alive, our units are clarifying the information.”
In the video, Mr Shoigu mentioned greater than 17,000 Ukrainian troopers had been killed in September and that greater than 2,700 weapons, together with seven American Bradley combating autos, had been destroyed.
Both Russia and Ukraine have at instances exaggerated enemy losses within the battle, whereas additionally saying little about their very own losses.
On Monday, Ukraine’s particular forces claimed they’d killed Mr Sokolov and 33 different officers in final week’s missile assault on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.
“After the strike on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 34 officers died, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” Ukraine’s particular forces mentioned on the Telegram messaging app.
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“Another 105 occupiers were wounded. The headquarters building cannot be restored.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to touch upon Ukraine’s declare that it had killed Mr Sokolov, as an alternative referring reporters to the defence ministry.
In an announcement after the assault, the Russian defence ministry mentioned one serviceman was lacking, revising an earlier assertion that the person had been killed.
Moscow-installed authorities in Sevastopol additionally mentioned they had been taking additional measures to deal with Ukraine’s elevated assaults on Crimea.
The assault got here after an earlier strike on Sevastopol, during which a Russian submarine and warship had been broken.
A Ukrainian and a Western supply mentioned that British Storm Shadow cruise missiles had been deployed within the assault on the port of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Source: information.sky.com”