Russia has released footage showing the apparent survivors of the flagship Moskva which sank this week.
Among those paraded in a video released by Moscow is a the captain of the cruiser, who was thought to have been killed.
The supposed "survivors' parade" was broadcast on state TV, although the news agency did not clarify exactly when it had been filmed.
It appeared to show Captain Anton Kuprin, whose death Ukraine announced after the sinking of Moskva, but a news blackout on the vessel also prompted speculation hundreds more sailors had perished.
Russia showed images of an officer very like Kuprin listening to a speech by naval chief Admiral Nikolay Yevmenov.
It has not been made clear when the video broadcast was recorded and TASS, Russia's leading news agency, did not mention the sinking of the Moskva.
Ukraine claimed the captain was killed in the battleship sinking which it said was caused by a Neptune missile strike.
An eight-hour battle ensued after the vessel caught fire to try and prevent the Moskva from sinking.
But the new video footage of the parade left many questions unanswered.
Only 150 men could be seen in Sevastopol parade footage taken by Russia's Defence Ministry, but a tally of the crew of the stricken Moskva came to more than 500 sailors.
There was nothing in the video footage to explain why so many men were missing.
The 'survivors' at the parade gave the impression a large number of sailors were present but hundreds were missing.
At a vigil in the city yesterday there were no references to fatalities, but prayers were said for the lost sailors.
The admiral said on Russian TV saying: "The crew of Moskva cruiser is at the main base, hero city of Sevastopol.
"Officers, midshipmen, contract personnel will continue service in the Navy."
He also said conscript sailors on the vessel would soon be relieved of their duties.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ' has insisted no conscripts, usually aged 18 or 19, were involved in the war.
The admiral said: "Compulsory service personnel, in line with the law, will be released from May to July, and will leave to be put on the military register."
The ambiguously alive Captain Kuprin ordered the killing of Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island, who responded to the occupants of the Moskva to "go f*** yourselves".
The Mirror reported how 13 troops on the tiny Black Sea island, 186 miles west of Crimea, were thought to have been among the first victims of Putin’s invasion amid rumours they were killed in Russian air and sea bombardment.
Rumours they had survived spread and now the Ukrainian Navy has confirmed they are alive, albeit captured by enemy soldiers.
