A Russian state TV correspondent appeared to accidentally reveal the extent of major Russian troop losses in Ukraine.
Presenter Alexander Sladkov was on TV channel Rossiya 1 when he let slip that a "huge number of people" have died, following a swift and effective Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Sladkov then corrected himself and said Vladimir Putin's forces were having "great successes".
He said: "People here [in the Donbas] are waiting for us to get started. For us to hit them so hard that they end up on their backsides. That's to say, a knockout! It's very difficult to win on points."
"We're losing a huge number of people, we have wounded... we're having... great successes!"
Putin's Kremlin has kept things quiet regarding the number of casualties suffered since their barbaric invasion in February. What Russia deems as 'misinformation' about the war in the country is now punishable by up to 15 years behind bars.
Russia has not published its own losses since March when it claimed it had seen 1,351 killed and 3,825 wounded, though independent Russian media outlet iStories verified the deaths of over 5,000.
Ukraine claimed it has killed over 50,000 Russians since February, though its reports are likely to be inflated.
In early August, CIA director William Burns said there were "in the vicinity of 15,000 killed and maybe three times that wounded".
Sladkov added: "We're having great successes but we're not... well now we've used long-range aviation, we've dealt serious damage to their energy system, but again we didn't finish it off.
"Again, what are the people saying? They're saying: 'We're winning on points. But we'd like a knockout'."
After a successful advance into previously Russia-held territory - around 965 square miles were estimated to have been recovered over the weekend - the Ukrainian advance continues on Tuesday.
Ukraine claims around 150,000 people have been liberated so far and the goal is to press on to Kharkiv.
US President Joe Biden said there was likely still a long fight ahead: "It’s clear the Ukrainians have made significant progress. But I think it’s going to be a long haul."
Analysts believe Ukraine has a choice to try and press home its advantage with further advances, but doing so may risk the country overstretching and facing a counterattack.
The UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Russian forces are increasingly reliant on weapons stocked from sanction states like Iran and North Korea.
It said: "Russia is almost certainly increasingly sourcing weaponry from other heavily sanctioned states like Iran and North Korea as its own stocks dwindle."
