Tuesday 9 August 2022 04:25 PM Putin loses 100th colonel as US says 80,000 Russian troops dead or wounded trends now

Vladimir Putin has now lost at least 100 colonels in the war in Ukraine, as the US says up to 80,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in the fighting.

Lieutenant-Colonel Vitaly Tsikul, 36 and a tank commander, was confirmed dead by Russian media which showed footage of his funeral taking place in the town of Chebarkul, central Russia.

His death was revealed as Colin Kahl, third-most senior official at the Pentagon, said that up to 80,000 Russia soldiers have been taken out less than six months of war.

It means that around half of the 150,000 - 190,000 men that Putin is thought to have amassed on Ukraine's border before the war have been removed from the battlefield.

Kahl said the estimate is 'pretty remarkable' when taking into account the fact that 'the Russians have achieved none of Putin’s objectives at the beginning of the war.'

He added: 'Russia's overall objective was to overrun the entire country, to engage in regime change in Kyiv, to snuff out Ukraine as an independent sovereign and democratic nation. None of that has happened.'

His estimate is roughly in line with one given by a Democrat congresswoman briefed on the war last week, who said 'at least' 75,000 Russian troops were dead or injured.

Among that number are thought to be thousands of Ukrainians conscripted into the army from occupied territories, and thousands more mercenaries linked to military contractor group Wager.

Russia is also thought to have drafted in soldiers from Syria to fight, and in recent weeks has began a recruitment drive for new 'volunteer battalions'.

Salaries of up to £3,400 per month are reportedly being offered to officers willing to fight, before bonuses, with privates promised £2,400 - a fortune for those living in the poorer regions of Russia or Donbas, where recruitment is said to be focused.