Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, has been shown attending a video conference.

However, this comes a day after Ukrainian special forces claimed to have killed him.

The Russian defence ministry released a video and photographs depicting Sokolov’s apparent participation in a video conference.

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Viktor is alive?

The video conference was with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and other high-ranking admirals and army chiefs.

Consequently, this footage was aired live on state television. The video aired as an apparent statement to Ukraine.

Previously, On Monday, Ukrainian special forces announced that they had killed Sokolov, the top admiral in Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

His demise was reported along with 33 other officers in a missile attack on the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

This took place in the Russian-annexed peninsula of the Black Sea The statement also reported that 105 others were wounded in the strikes.

However, the initial report did not mention Sokolov by name.

Nevertheless, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, posted a photo of the admiral on social media, along with his name.

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The big reveal

Earlier on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had declined to comment on the Ukrainian claim.

He however referred reporters to the defence ministry for further clarification on the claim.

In the video released by the Russian Defence Ministry, Minister Shoigu stated that over 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in September.

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Shoigu further noted, “The Ukrainian armed forces are suffering serious losses along the entire front line.”

Consequently, he added that the Ukrainian counter-offensive had not yet yielded significant results.

He also criticized the United States and its allies for continuing to arm Ukraine’s armed forces.

Additionally, he went further to characterize the Ukrainian government’s actions as deploying untrained soldiers in futile assaults.

Ukraine’s counter-offensive against Russian forces has not resulted in substantial territorial gains.

In brief, Russian forces still control massive territories from what seems to have been referred to as part of Ukraine before the war.

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