Russian President Vladimir Putin has lost his 42nd Colonel in his war with Ukraine.
Colonel Denis Kozlov, 40, was the second commander of the 12th Separate Guards Engineers of Keningsbersko-Gorodok Red Banner Brigade to die in the conflict.
He was buried in Murom, Vladimir Region, on Tuesday, BBC News Russia reported.
Col Kozlov had replaced Colonel Sergei Porokhnya, 45, who was killed in Ukraine on March 14.
Kozlov died while building a pontoon crossing for the further advance of the troops, on May 11. According to local Russian news outlet Murom24 he "heroically died when guiding a pontoon ferry to make a further advance of the troops."
On Friday, Putin's army suffered heavy losses while trying to establish a pontoon crossing across the Seversky Donets River near the village of Belogorovka in the Luhansk region.
Ukrainian military claimed to have destroyed a pontoon bridge and part of a Russian armoured column, according to footage published by the Ukrainian military on Friday.
The number of deaths is unknown but the video shows multiple burnt-out military vehicles and parts of the pontoon bridge submerged. Reuters reports that images also show damaged vehicles, including tanks, in the forest and on the road leading to the river.
It is thought Col Kozlov was among the Russian troops who perished in the failed advance across the Seversky Donets River when he and his men were ambushed by a Ukrainian attack.
This is the third unsuccessful attempt from Putin's forces to build bridges across the Seversky Donets River in eastern Ukraine, Sergei Gaidai, head of the military administration of the Lugansk region, told the BBC.
"We destroyed Russian boats and helicopters that they used to cover their attempts [to build bridges]", Gaidai claims that the Russian military tried to disguise their operations.
Col Kozlov was posthumously decorated with the Russian Order of Courage and laid to rest in his hometown Murom, in Vladimir Oblast.
His death now makes him the 42nd known Colonel to perish in the war, indicating the huge toll suffered by Putin’s army. With the attrition rate now standing at around one colonel every two days.
A report in the New York Times states that the United States has provided intelligence about Russian units that have allowed Ukrainians to target and kill Russian generals.
Pentagon spokesperson, John Kirby, said the US was providing “Ukraine with information and intelligence that they can use to defend themselves”, but Adrienne Watson, a national security council spokesperson, said intelligence was not provided “with the intent to kill Russian generals”.
Ukrainian officials said they have killed around 12 generals on the front lines.
