According to Ukraine, a meeting of navy officers was scheduled to coincide with the missile attack on Friday on the Black Sea fleet’s command centre in Crimea.
The Ukrainian military provided only a brief statement in which it claimed the strike had resulted in deaths and injuries.
Moscow reported on Friday that one serviceman was missing after the assault.
The Sevastopol-based fleet is regarded as the best in the Russian navy.
The BBC was informed by a Ukrainian military source that Britain and France-produced Storm Shadow missiles were used in the attack on Friday.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Ukrainian military said that it had left behind “dozens of dead and wounded occupiers, including the top management of the fleet.”
Two Russian commanders were allegedly seriously hurt in the missile hit, according to Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Kiev’s intelligence service.
Many of the assertions made by either side on the battlefield that the BBC cannot independently verify.
On Saturday, further attacks were made on the Sevastopol region. Mikhail Razvozhaev, the city’s newly-installed Russian governor, reported that some missile debris had landed close to a dock.
Additionally, he informed the locals that he had ordered a bomb shelter inspection in response to some complaints that they were difficult to access or in poor shape.
“We humbly request everyone: stop sowing panic and appeasing our enemies with this – panic is their main goal,” he stated on Telegram.
In recent months, Kyiv’s soldiers have been attacking Russian forces stationed in Crimea almost every day.
Last week, the Ukrainian navy asserted that it had destroyed an S-400 air defence missile battery guarding the peninsula, weakening Russia’s capacity to repel future assaults.
An strike the day before that, according to Ukraine, also used Storm Shadow missiles destroyed a sizable Russian landing ship and submarine.
Attacks on Crimea have strategic and symbolic significance.
The Black Sea fleet is an important representation of Russia’s long-standing military presence in the region, as well as a base from which to strike Ukraine.
Even before Russia’s illegitimate annexation of the peninsula in 2014, it was located there thanks to a lease agreement.
BBC
