Ukraine claimed 19,000 Russian invaders have died, but Russia only admitted “significant losses of troops”, without disclosing a tally.
Top Russian military officer, Colonel Alexander Bespalov, a tank commander has been killed in Ukraine, the ninth senior officer to be lost in the battle.
He was given a funeral back in Russia but many soldiers corpses had been left to rot on the battlefield, to the despair of their mourning relatives.
Ukraine claimed 19,000 Russian invaders have died, but Russia only admitted “significant losses of troops”, without disclosing a tally.
Bespalov's death comes after Ukraine announced it had “eliminated” Colonel Denis Kurilo, commander of the 200th motorised rifle brigade, in fierce fighting outside the country’s second city Kharkiv.
Bespalov was commander of the 59th Tank Guards Tank Regiment, Russia’s 74.RU news website reports.