The killing of an enemy admiral in a missile strike would be a coup for any military, but the celebration in Ukraine over the death of Russia’s Black Sea fleet commander may turn out to be short-lived. A day after announcing that the admiral was among 34 officers killed in a strike deep behind enemy lines, Ukrainian officials acknowledged on Tuesday that there might be some uncertainty. The Ukrainian military’s statement that it was now “clarifying” whether the admiral, Viktor Sokolov, had in fact been killed in an audacious strike last week in Russian-held Crimea came after Moscow released a video on Tuesday purporting to show the admiral attending a meeting earlier in the day. Given Moscow’s long history of refusing to acknowledge military setbacks, and the challenges of authenticating its video, it remained uncertain on Tuesday whether Admiral Sokolov was among those killed in the Ukrainian attack on the headquarters of Moscow’s fleet in Sevastopol.

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Persons: Viktor Sokolov, Admiral Sokolov Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Crimea, Moscow, Sevastopol