Ukrainian special forces have announced that they have killed Russian Black Sea commander Admiral Viktor Sokolov on the Crimea Peninsula.

The Ukrainian military said that their attack on the Russian Black Sea fleet headquarters in Sevastopol resulted in 33 other casualties and over 100 people were wounded.

“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,” they said.

Reporters cannot confirm the claims about Sokolov’s death, nor the number of casualties. Moscow previously confirmed Ukraine’s attack and that one serviceman was missing.

Over the last few weeks, Ukraine has increased attacks on Crimea as it looks to regain the Black Sea region. Russia has seized and annexed the Ukrainian region since 2014.

Sokolov was appointed as commander of the Black Sea fleet in August last year after the region was under threat from Ukrainian forces.

Photo: Internal Troops of the Ministry for Internal Affairs (Russia) is available HERE and is used under a Creative Commons licence. This photo has not been modified.