Vladimir Putin’s war effort has suffered new blows with the deaths of three more majors as military graveyards inside Russia begin to fill up with the dead.
The so far unsuccessful war effort has caused appalling losses on Russia’s behalf, with recent claims suggesting Moscow has lost over 30,000 troops since February 24.
Since the invasion began, it was reported that Putin has been told there have been 23,655 deaths among troops, and a further 6,902 mercenaries having died.
Russia has not come clean on the scale of its war losses, and has hidden the return to the motherland of coffins and funerals.
Whilst it began an official death count early on in the invasion, it quickly ended this after a few days.
Online source General SVR today claimed that Putin has been told of a total of 30,557 deaths among the armed forces and privately-hired combatants.
This claim could not be verified but a number of other estimates put Russia’s death toll at well over 20,000 people.
One example of how Moscow avoids confronting the number of dead publicly is its failure to ever confirm how many died on the sinking of the Moskva, its Black Sea Fleet flagship.
As the body’s pile up for Russia, the elite of its fighting force continue to be picked off in fighting, amidst reports Ukraine has been targeting majors, generals and other senior staff.
A number of elite paratroopers appeared to be buried at a graveyard in the Tver region.
As well as that, there are also new graves at a burial site called the Alley of the Paratroopers, in the Stavropol region.
At least some of the dead are GRU military intelligence special forces officers, indicated by the flag with a bat and parachute prominently displayed.
It reportedly belongs to the 10th Separate Order of Zhukov Special Purpose Brigade.
On top of this, the Kremlin has lost eight generals and 35 colonels as its war effort has struggled so far.
Among the most recently buried graveyards, flags beside the dead show that those who are dead are among Russia’s most elite and highly trained paratroopers and special forces.
GRU Spetnaz officer Major Sergey Kashanskiy, 32, from Siberia, was killed in the ongoing fighting in Ukraine and is one of the latest high-ranking military men Russia has lost.
Governor of Krasnoyarsk region Alexander Uss offered his “deepest condolences” to the family.
Alongside him two other majors died, adding another blow to Putin’s war effort.
Major Sergei Averyanov, 36, commander of an engineering battalion, was announced dead today by Ukraine and this was confirmed by the officer’s relatives in Russia.
A VW-fanatic, he had served two tours of duty in Syria before dying in Ukraine.
Major Alexander Shepel, 35, battalion commander of the second motorised rifles, was blown up by an anti-tank mine, according to reports.
A memorial to him said: “You are our hero, we will not forget. We will not forgive, we love, we mourn ... You are forever in our hearts.”
He died in a battle in Popkova village, in Ukraine, say reports.
