MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Tuesday it had no comment on a Ukrainian claim that the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, had been killed in an attack last week on the fleet’s headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastapol.

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.

Ukraine says Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander killed, no comment by Moscow

Russia seized and annexed Crimea in 2014.