Yet another of Vladimir Putin’s colonels has been killed in action in Ukraine.
Lt Col Vitaly Slabtsov, 43, was an elite paratrooper buried with full military honours, say reports.
Reports suggest Slabtsov was killed during a special operation in Donbas, Ukraine, although not many details have emerged regarding his death.
Slabtsov's funeral was held in Ryazan in central Russia, home of Russian paratroopers, on Friday. His body was placed in a closed coffin, indicating he had suffered devastating wounds in the war.
A Russian flag draped the coffin as it was taken for burial, while Slabtsov was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.
Pictures taken at the service show several Russian military personal in attendance, with one holding a picture of Slabtsov.
Slabtsov served with the 83rd separate air assault brigade based in Ussuriysk, in the extreme east of Russia, and was one of Vladimir Putin's top Russian colonels.
At the funeral, cemetery workers told reporters there are three rows of graves reserved for more victims, suggesting they are expecting another 70 funerals.
The news comes after Lt Col Alexander Kornik, 39, was reported to have died alongside eight soldiers of his regiment, with 17 more injured, after they were hit while building a pontoon bridge in the Chernihev region.
Six bodies of dead servicemen could not be removed from the water, and were carried away by the current on March 27, said senior Ukrainian journalist Roman Tsymbalyuk.
However, separate accounts give the date of his death as March 2 and March 15.
Additionally, it was announced this week that top Russian general Col Denis Kurilo had been "eliminated" along with 1,500 troops.
The commander of the 200th motorised rifle brigade died in fighting outside Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, it was claimed.
Just three days prior, Ukraine announced Lt Gen Yakov Rezantsev, 48, was the seventh general and the second lieutenant general to be killed in the invasion.
Sources in Kyiv said the commander, who previously claimed that the war would be over in a matter of hours, died in a strike close to Kherson city.
Pictures show a funeral service held for Kornik in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg where he was given full military honours.
Despite this, Russia has not officially announced his death in common with many soldiers killed in Ukraine.
Putin has only acknowledged the death of one general so far, understood to be Major Gen Andrey Sukhovetsky, in a speech shortly after the war began.
Ukrainian forces have also claimed to have eliminated Lieutenant General Andrey Mordvichev, Major General Oleg Mityaev, Major General Vitaly Gerasimov and Major General Andrei Kolesnikov.
Reports indicate that Kornik was chief of staff of the 40th Engineer Regiment.
Russian troops have experienced severe casualties in the five-week war with Ukraine claiming as many as 17,000 killed. Between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers have lost their lives in battle, according to estimates from NATO.
The Kremlin has lost at least nine colonels and several more high ranking officers, according to reports.
Putin ’s negotiators have said this week that Russian forces would ease back from attacks on Kyiv and northern Ukraine although shelling has continued and there is a fear that they are simply regrouping.
It comes as Ukraine has managed to retake some territory taken from the Russians especially around Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Zelenskiy said in a video address that the military situation in the east remained extremely difficult and Russia was preparing for new strikes in the Donbas region and the city of Kharkiv.
He added that Russian troops in the north of the country were pulling back, slowly but noticeably.
