On Monday, Ukraine stated that it had killed a Russian naval commander in connection with an attack on the Crimean peninsula.
Now Russia is showing images of the fleet commander from a video meeting that should have been held on Tuesday, according to state-run Russian media.
On Friday, Ukraine attacked the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet at Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula. Ukraine later stated that naval commander Viktor Sokolov was killed in the attack along with 33 other commanders.
But now the Russian Ministry of Defense has published images from a video meeting said to have taken place on Tuesday morning. One of the people seen on the video conference is Viktor Sokolov.
Seen but not heard in the meeting
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke at the meeting – but none of the other senior commanders seen on the video meeting said anything. BBC have checked the video footage of Sokolov using facial recognition software and have been able to confirm that the person seen is the fleet commander.
However, it is unclear when the video meeting should have been held, and above all whether the fleet commander’s video participation is fresh material or possibly recorded earlier. Russian media reports that Viktor Sokolov is alive, but Kremlin spokesman Dimitriy Peskov has not directly answered the question, only that it is the domain of the Ministry of Defense.
Ukraine reviews data
Following the Russian media reporting, Ukrainian media – citing information from Ukrainian special forces – have said to clarify information about Sokolov’s possible death.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also does not say anything definitive when interviewed by CNN, only that Sokolov’s death had been “good news”.