Russian video 'shows Black Sea fleet commander Viktor Sokolov alive'
It's not clear when the footage, where Viktor Sokolov appears on a video link with the defence minister, was filmed.
The ministry said the meeting with senior officials happened on Tuesday.
Ukraine special forces said on Monday Adm Sokolov and 33 other officers died in a missile strike on the fleet's HQ in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea.
They did not name the admiral directly, nor did they offer any evidence that he had died. They now say they are "clarifying" the reports.
"As it is known, 34 officers were killed as a result of a missile attack on the headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation," they said in a statement.
"Available sources claim that among the dead was the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Many [bodies] still have not been identified due to the condition of the body parts."
The eight-minute video shows a Defence Ministry collegium, said to have taken place on Tuesday morning. Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu is seen talking to senior officials in a conference room in Moscow.
He is also briefly seen on several occasions on video link with the commanders of Russia's five fleets including the Black Sea Fleet, none of whom speak.
Facial recognition software shows a match between other images of Adm Sokolov and the man who appears in the latest video, suggesting it is him.
It was unable to verify whether the meeting actually took place on Tuesday, or whether the image of Adm Sokolov on the video link is in real time.
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