Ukraine’s special forces said Admiral Viktor Sokolov was dead. Twenty-four hours later, Russian television showed him on screen. That sequence, from late September 2023, is the whole dispute in miniature.
On Monday, Ukraine’s special forces asserted that Sokolov, commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, had died with 33 other officers when missiles struck the fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol the previous Friday. The Ukrainian statement counted 105 further personnel wounded. Al Jazeera reported that figure, while the Associated Press noted that none of the Ukrainian casualty claims could be independently verified.
The video that answered Kyiv
On Tuesday, September 26, the Russian defense ministry released footage of a video conference led by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Sokolov appeared among the senior officers, though the AP noted he did not speak in the clip. The ministry said the meeting took place that same day. “The Ukrainian armed forces are suffering serious losses along the entire front line,” Shoigu said during it, according to Al Jazeera.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov sent questions about Sokolov to the defense ministry. Asked again on Wednesday, he pointed out that the admiral had joined Tuesday’s call and said nothing more.
A second clip followed on Wednesday. A news channel linked to the Russian Defense Ministry aired Sokolov talking to journalists about the fleet’s operations. Nobody said when it was recorded, and it made no mention of the attack on the headquarters.
Ukraine’s Special Operation Forces did not retreat outright. They said their sources had placed Sokolov among the dead, many of whom were still unidentified, and that they were trying to check the claim after the video surfaced.
Moscow’s counter-accusation
Russia’s response also had a political edge. On Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing: “There is no doubt that the attack had been planned in advance using Western intelligence means, NATO satellite assets and reconnaissance planes.” She said American and British security agencies had advised on it. Unconfirmed news reports said Storm Shadow missiles supplied by the UK and France were used, and the UK Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to the AP.
The casualty picture on the Russian side stayed thin. Moscow first said one serviceman had been killed, quickly withdrew that and called the person missing, and has issued no update on casualties since. The strike put a large hole in the headquarters’ main building.
So the record as of those days: a Ukrainian claim without evidence, Russian footage whose recording date for the second clip was never given, and a Kremlin that declined to say more.
Sources
- Russia accuses Ukraine's Western allies of helping attack its Black Sea Fleet headquarters
- Russian Black Sea commander appears alive after Ukraine's death claim
