Britain’s Defence Secretary has described a Russian mobile crematorium for use in any future conflict as “chilling”.
The Ministry of Defence have released footage of the vehicle, which was seen travelling behind the forces heading for Ukraine.
Ben Wallace suggested that Russian forces invading Ukraine could use the incinerators to help disguise the number of casualties inflicted during any potential battle.
Calling it "deeply, deeply" worrying for any Russian troops, he fears it could be help cover-up deaths if war breaks out.
He told The Telegraph : “Previously they've deployed mobile crematoriums to follow troops around the battlefield, which in anyone's book is chilling.
"If I was a soldier and knew that my generals had so little faith in me that they followed me around the battlefield with a mobile crematorium, or I was the mother or father of a son, potentially deployed into a combat zone, and my government thought that the way to cover up loss was mobile crematorium, I'd be deeply, deeply worried.
"It’s a very chilling side effect of how the Russians view their forces and for those of you who served, and being a soldier, knowing that trundling behind you is a way to evaporate you if you are killed in battle.
"It probably says everything you need to know about the Russian regime."
The Defence Secretary has suggested Vladimir Putin has gone "full tonto", following the latest escalation in the Ukraine crisis.
He said the Russian president has made the mistake of having no allies in his actions, comparing him to Tsar Nicholas I during the Crimean War.
Mr Wallace, a former Scots Guards officer, said his regiment had "kicked the backside" of the tsar in the Crimea and "we can always do it again".
The unguarded comments came as the Cabinet minister chatted with serving military personnel at the Horse Guards building in Westminster.
He said: "It's going to be a busy Army. Unfortunately we've got a busy adversary now in Putin, who has gone full tonto."
Mr Wallace said the UK has 1,000 personnel on stand-by to respond to the crisis, adding: "The Scots Guards kicked the backside of Tsar Nicholas I in 1853 in Crimea - we can always do it again."
He continued: "Tsar Nicholas I made the same mistake Putin did... he had no friends, no alliances."
The Defence Secretary's comments came in a room dominated by a large painting depicting the Battle of Inkerman, a major engagement during the Crimean War.
Mr Wallace's assessment of Mr Putin's mental state came after Boris Johnson accused the Russian leader of being "in an illogical and irrational frame of mind".
Former Nato secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen also suggested Mr Putin could be unhinged.
"I mean the Russian behaviour right now, it's not rational, it's not logical, so I wouldn't exclude the possibility that Putin has gone crazy," the former prime minister of Denmark told ITV's Peston.
"And we saw recently how he actually humiliated his advisers so I don't think we are confronted with a man who is thinking along rational lines."
Earlier, Mr Wallace told reporters he was keeping the possibility of sending further weapons to Ukraine "under constant review", adding: "We're in a pretty good position to deliver any type of aid pretty quickly to Ukraine, no matter what that aid is."
