Moscow:

Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and one of Russia’s most senior navy officers, was pictured attending a video conference on Tuesday, a day after Ukrainian special forces said they had killed him.

In a photograph released by the Russian defence ministry, Sokolov was shown apparently taking part in a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and other top admirals and army chiefs.

Ukraine’s special forces said on Monday they had killed Sokolov, Moscow’s top admiral in Crimea, along with 33 other officers in a missile attack last week on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in the port of Sevastopol.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that Ukraine’s proposed peace plan as well as the latest UN proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative were both “not realistic.”

Lavrov spoke at a press conference after a week of intense global diplomacy at the annual gathering of world leaders at UN headquarters in New York where Ukraine and its Western allies sought to drum up support for Kyiv.

“It is completely not feasible,” Lavrov said of a 10-point peace blueprint promoted by Kyiv. 

“It is not possible to implement this. It’s not realistic and everybody understands this, but at the same time, they say this is the only basis for negotiations.”

He said the conflict would be resolved on the battlefield if Kyiv and its Western allies stuck to that stance.

Lavrov added that Moscow left the Black Sea grain initiative because promises made to Russia – including removing sanctions on a Russian bank and reconnecting it to the global SWIFT system – had not been met.

He said the latest UN proposals to revive that export corridor for Ukrainian agricultural products were “simply not realistic”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)