Admiral Viktor Sokolov was declared dead in September 2023. Russia answered with video of him at a defense ministry meeting. Five months later he was reported sacked.
That is the short version of his run as commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, a job he took over in 2022 from Igor Osipov. Osipov had been dismissed after the cruiser Moskva sank in April 2022, Ukrayinska Pravda reported, and Sokolov officially replaced him on August 10, 2022.
The Sevastopol strike
In September 2023, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces said Sokolov had been killed when the fleet headquarters in Sevastopol was hit. Kyiv Post described a Storm Shadow missile strike that allegedly killed 34 naval officers. Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence then said it had no confirmed information about his death, and Russian media published footage of him alive.
The claim of his death was wrong. His troubles were not over.
Losses under his command
Fleet losses climbed steeply while Sokolov was in charge, Kyiv Post wrote. Estimates cited by the paper put the fleet at around 80 warships when the full-scale invasion began, a mix of large warships, landing ships, submarines, patrol boats and minesweepers. Ukraine, it said, had carried out at least 27 successful naval attacks, destroying 25 vessels and damaging 15 others.
The landing ship Tsezar Kunikov was the latest. Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence said its drones struck the vessel on February 14, 2024, near occupied Crimea, and Ukrainian forces later confirmed it sunk. Ukrayinska Pravda reported that only 5 of the 13 ships in the Black Sea Fleet remained operational after that.
Reported removal
Within a day, pro-Russian Telegram channels and Russian military correspondents were saying Sokolov had been removed. Vice-Admiral Sergey Pinchuk, his deputy and the fleet’s chief of staff, would reportedly take over. Kyiv Post said the Kunikov sinking apparently triggered the decision.
The sourcing matters. The dismissal came from anonymous channels and bloggers, as both outlets noted, not from an official Russian announcement.
Sources
- Head of Russia's Black Sea Fleet dismissed, media claim (Ukrayinska Pravda)
- 'Dead' Black Sea Fleet Commander Reportedly Sacked After Latest Naval Loss (Kyiv Post)
