Vladimir Putin and Russia have suffered another blow as yet another colonel has been killed during combat in Ukraine.
Lt-Col Zaur Dimayev was deputy commander of the 4th battalion of the Akhmat Kadyrov special forces regiment.
He is said to be a close ally of the Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov.
He died in a hail of artillery fire from the Ukrainians, reported the Baza media outlet.
Reports said he was killed in the village of Komyshuvakha, in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, making him the 49th colonel to die since the start of the invasion.
He was in a UAZ Patriot SUV vehicle which came under fire. His driver was also killed on the spot, it has been reported.
Dimayev’s commanding officer colonel Zamid Chalaev, 40, this week said the colonel “enjoys” killing Ukrainians.
In a video reposted by Kadyrov - a lead of Chechnya - the commander standing amidst a group of fighters said: “We want to say to all [Ukrainian] shaitans, Nazis, Banderovtsy - when we are killing you, we enjoy it.”
It comes as two more Russian colonels have been killed in Ukraine, including the country’s “best paratroop commander”.
Lt-Col Alexander Dosyagayev, 34, was a commander of an airborne assault battalion of the 104th paratrooper regiment.
Troops from his 104th air assault regiment were reportedly in Bucha, which was the scene of alleged rape and torture atrocities by Vladimir Putin ’s forces earlier in the war.
His battalion based in Pskov had been recognised as the best in Russia in checks on combat training and military discipline.
Russian media outlet Mediazona confirmed the death of another colonel killed earlier in the war which has not been announced.
Col Vladimir Ivanov, 41, was labelled a “propagandist” by the Ukrainian media because he served in the Russian defence ministry’s department of Information and Mass Communication.
Dosyagayev and Ivanov are the 47th and 48th colonels known to have died fighting for Russian forces in Ukraine.
The toll of generals is now believed to be ten.
It is likely that the true toll among Putin’s higher ranks is higher, as Russian officials have not revealed details of those killed in action in Ukraine.
Information on the known deaths comes from other sources.
