The commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, whom Kyiv claimed to have killed in a recent missile strike, appeared in a video published on Tuesday by Russia's Defense Ministry.
Ukraine said earlier this week it had killed Admiral Viktor Sokolov and 34 officers in an unprecedented strike on the fleet's naval headquarters in the annexed Crimean peninsula on Friday.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said one soldier had gone missing following the attack.
However, photos and video shared by the Defense Ministry on Tuesday showed Sokolov wearing military attire and attending a top brass meeting alongside the commanders of other Russian Navy branches via videoconference.
The Russian military did not draw specific attention to Sokolov in the video, whose date of recording appears to have been Tuesday morning Moscow time based on timestamps shown in certain fragments.
Defense Minister Shoigu, who chaired the meeting, reported on the deaths of more than 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers and the destruction of more than 2,700 weapons since the beginning of September.
“The Ukrainian armed forces are suffering serious losses along the entire frontline,” Shoigu said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier Tuesday that questions about Sokolov’s reported death should be addressed to Russia’s Defense Ministry.
Moscow has not directly denied or confirmed Kyiv’s claims about the death toll from Friday's missile attack.
AFP contributed to this reporting.
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