Is Russian Black Sea Commander Actually Dead? What We Know, What We Don't

Kyiv may have boasted that Russia's Black Sea Fleet commander Viktor Sokolov was among those killed in a missile strike on Sevastopol but Russian media have presented reports of the admiral's death as greatly exaggerated.

Ukraine's special forces said on Monday that Sokolov was among 34 officers killed in the September 22 strike on the naval headquarters in the Crimean port city, reportedly carried out with British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

Ukrainian naval forces spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk told CNN this dealt a major blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who did not control the operations of ships and relied on his admirals who knew "how to manage" and "deploy them."

Pletenchuk used the analogy of a "chicken running around without a head" when describing the state of the Russian fleet following the purported death of the commander.

But headless chickens can still move rather quickly and images shown on Russian state media added to speculation about the commander's demise.

One undated picture released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Tuesday purportedly showed Sokolov in a defense ministry meeting with defense minister Sergei Shoigu present.

On Wednesday, the Russian military television channel Zvezda (Star) showed a clip of Sokolov giving an interview in which he said that the Black Sea Fleet's "surface forces, submarine forces, naval aviation, and coastal troops are successfully completing their missions." The video was not dated and in it he made no mention of the reports of his death.

Another video from Wednesday shows Sokolov presenting awards to members of the FC Chornomorets Sevastopol soccer team, which had won the army championship. However, Ukrainian outlet Hromadske noted the team claimed the championship on September 19, three days before the attack on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters.

Radio Liberty journalist Mark Krutov found that the state news outlet Vesti Sevastopol had shown excerpts from an award ceremony for the team on September 20 in which Sokolov is not present.

Meanwhile, the caption in a video by local news outlet Perviy Sevastopol of the awards ceremony purportedly held on Wednesday, addresses the reports of the admiral's death.

"Life goes on," it says, "the Russian Black Sea Fleet confidently and successfully carries out its tasks."

The caption also referred to Ukraine's reports that Sokolov had died and emphasized how "he personally congratulated the soccer players on their victory, showing everyone that he is alive and continues to work."

However, Krutov said that after examining the videos he concluded that they were two different, "albeit carbon-copy, ceremonies," with tables at both events looking like they were placed in different areas.

"Seems like they replicated the ceremony to demonstrate that Sokolov is still alive, which is very much in the style of the Russian army," Krutov wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The Institute for the Study of War said on Wednesday that the proof Russian media outlets sought to provide that Solokov was alive was "inconclusive" and that the think tank was "unprepared at this time to make an assessment about the authenticity of the footage."

"The Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) have been notably silent on the matter and have not directly confirmed that Sokolov is alive," the think tank added.

Newsweek has contacted the Kremlin and the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.