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STORY: Ukraine's special forces claimed on Monday, they had killed the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet,

during an attack last week on the fleet’s headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

The Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately confirm or deny to Reuters, whether Admiral Viktor Sokolov had been killed in the attack.

A video obtained by Reuters shows Friday's attack.

The Ukrainian military said it was targeting a meeting of the Russian Navy's leadership in Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed in 2014.

On the Telegram messaging app, Ukraine’s special forces said:

"After the strike on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 34 officers died, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Another 105 occupiers were wounded. The headquarters building cannot be restored.”

Satellite images from Friday showed smoke billowing from the building in Sevastopol's city centre.

It was not immediately clear how Ukraine’s forces counted the dead and wounded in the attack.

Both sides have at times inflated claims of enemy losses since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Russian-installed Crimean officials confirmed the Ukrainian attack on Friday, saying at least one missile struck the fleet headquarters.

Kyiv has stepped up attacks in the Black Sea and Crimea, as Ukrainian forces press on with a nearly four-month-old counteroffensive to take back Russian-occupied territory.