Russia’s Black Sea Fleet commander Viktor Sokolov has claimed his fleet is “performing successfully” in a newly emerged video, just days after Ukraine claimed he had been killed in a missile strike.

The video has been released by the Russian Defence Ministry. It is unclear from his comments whether the clip was filmed after Ukraine’s missile strike on 22 September.

Ukraine’s special forces said on Monday that Russian admiral Viktor Sokolov and 33 other officers were killed in a missile strike carried out on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol in Crimea on Friday.