Russian navy commanders killed in Sevastopol missile attack: Ukrainian military

The Ukrainian military claimed a missile attack on Russia's Black Sea Fleet headquarters in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula on 22 September targeted "a meeting of the Russian Navy's leadership" and resulted in high casualties.

In a short statement, the Ukrainian military claimed the strike had caused deaths and injuries but did not provide more details, reports the BBC.

Kyiv's intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, claimed that two Russian commanders were badly injured in the missile strike.

On Friday Moscow said one serviceman was missing after the attack. The fleet, based in the port city of Sevastopol, is seen as the best of Russia's navy.

A Ukrainian military source said the attack was carried out using Storm Shadow missiles, which are supplied by Britain and France.

"On September 22 close to 12:00 (0900 GMT) Ukraine's defence forces successfully struck the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet command in the temporarily occupied Sevastopol," Ukrainian military said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, reported that emergency services had brought a fire in the building under control.

"But an equally important stage of work is now actively underway - the pouring of water on sections of the building and dismantling damaged structures," he wrote on Telegram.

Razvozhayev said some nearby roads could remain closed during this work. He also said that Sevastopol residents gathered in the streets, singing the Russian national anthem.

"Today showed that nothing can break Sevastopol," he wrote. "And the most beautiful thing about this is that this event was spontaneous."

Razvozhayev had earlier said there were no civilian casualties or damage to civilian infrastructure in his account of the missile strike posted on Telegram.

Ukraine has intensified attacks in the Black Sea and Crimea, which was seized and annexed by Russia in 2014, as Ukrainian forces press on with a nearly four-month-old counteroffensive to regain Russian-occupied territory.

Ukrainian officials have described attacks on Russian military targets in Russian-held territory as legitimate.