Vladimir Putin has lost his 15th top commander since invading Ukraine, according to reports.
Colonel Alexei Sharov was killed in the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukrainian army officer Anatoliy Stefan has claimed.
Analysts believe Russian commanders are now suffering a higher casualty rate than in any conflict since World War Two.
Sharov was head of the 810th Guards Separate Order of Zhukov Brigade in Russia's marine corps.
It comes after Colonel Nikolay Ovcharenko was reportedly killed while setting up a pontoon bridge near Izium, Ukraine.
The Commander of the 45th Engineering Regiment died alongside 18 of his comrades, it is claimed.
Five generals are among the other top Russian military figures to perish in Ukraine.
These are Lieutenant General Andrey Mordvichev, Major General Oleg Mityaev, Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky, Major General Vitaly Gerasimov and Major General Andrei Kolesnikov.
The first general's death came only four days into the invasion, and in the just over three weeks since, a significant number of Russian military leaders have been killed in battle.
Some of the dead Russian commanders were said to have come to the frontline, something they would normally do if there were issues over decision-making, or their seniority was needed to get the troops forward.
Western sources said that a lot of generals are being killed because they are being pushed closer to the front line than usual to boost Russian soldiers' morale
According to Foreign Policy magazine, Rob Lee, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said: “It’s a bigger problem if you lose commanders of units because then it’s harder to have someone step in and take over."
A senior US defence official told reporters: "It makes sense that they would have senior leaders, even general officers, in the field for an invasion of this size.
“They haven’t done anything on (this) size and scale really ever.”
It comes as Putin's invasion has faced fierce resistance from Ukrainian forces, with Russian officials reportedly recording the deaths of 10,000 Kremlin troops in Ukraine.
The shocking figure was published by a pro-Kremlin newspaper, citing Russian defence ministry officials.
However, the statistic was quickly taken down from the website.
Officially the Kremlin has only acknowledged 498 Russian deaths.
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Listed below are the Russian military commanders who have died in Ukraine so far:
- Lieutenant General Andrey Mordvichev
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Colonel Sergei Sukharev
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Major General Oleg Mityaev
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Major General Andrei Kolesnikov
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Major General Vitaly Gerasimov
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Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky
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Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov
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Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov
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Guard Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky
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Guard Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Agarkov
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Colonel Andrei Zakharov
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General Magomed Tushaev
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Sparta Battalion warlord Vladimir Zhonga
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Colonel Nikolay Ovcharenko
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Colonel Alexei Sharov
