Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Appears After Rumors of 'Death'

According to Reuters, in video and images released by the Russian Defense Ministry on September 26, Viktor Sokolov, commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet and one of Russia's highest-ranking naval officers, appeared and participated in a meeting with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, several other top admirals and military commanders.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu chaired a meeting with the armed forces' leadership, while Russian fleet commanders appeared on screen via video .

On September 25, Ukraine's Special Forces said Mr. Sokolov, along with 33 other officers, died in a missile attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later declined to comment on Ukraine's statement, referring reporters' questions to the Russian Defense Ministry.

In a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry, Mr. Shoigu said more than 17,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in September and more than 2,700 weapons, including seven American Bradley fighting vehicles, were destroyed.

“The Ukrainian armed forces are suffering serious losses along the entire front line,” Shoigu said, adding that Ukraine’s counter-offensive had so far yielded no results.

“The United States and its allies continue to arm the armed forces of Ukraine and Kiev, forcing untrained soldiers to launch senseless attacks,” the Russian minister added.

Ukraine's counter-offensive has yet to yield significant territorial gains against Russian forces, which control about 17.5 percent of Ukraine's territory, according to Reuters.

According to statistics on September 19 by the Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School, Russia gained 35 square miles (90.6 square kilometers) of territory from Ukraine in the past month while Ukrainian forces captured 16 square miles (41.4 square kilometers) of territory from Russian forces.

Phuong Anh (Source: Reuters)

Source: https://vtc.vn/reuters-tu-lenh-ham-doi-bien-den-nga-xuat-hien-sau-tin-don-da-chet-ar822785.html