Vladimir Putin has lost his first woman colonel, nicknamed his "she-wolf", in the war in Ukraine after a missile hit her car.
The warmonger leader granted posthumous Hero of Russia honour - the Kremlin’s highest award - to Olga ‘Kursa’ Kachura, 52.
She was a colonel in the forces of Russian puppet state Donetsk People’s Republic, where she commanded a rocket artillery division deployed against Ukraine.
Putin propagandist Margarita Simonyan posted: “ Legendary Korsa died in Horlivka... May she rest in peace…”
Kachura recently featured in a documentary on the Russia Today TV channel - which has been banned in the UK for spouting Putin's propaganda - in which she alluded to herself being like a "she-wolf".
She said: "She guards the hearth, her children, her family. Even in nature, no wolf will defend her cub as aggressively as a she-wolf."
She is the 97th known colonel to have been killed in Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Putin said he had awarded her “for courage and heroism shown in the performance of military duty”.
Simonyan - head of the sanctioned RT network - said: “The Chief [Putin] awarded Korsa the title of Hero of Russia.
“That's how it's supposed to be. These are our common heroes.”
A Ukrainian strike hit a car in which she was travelling, according to reports.
She died instantly in the strike.
More Ukrainian strikes hit the Drama Theatre in Donetsk early today where the funeral was being held, part of a series of attacks that caused several fatalities, said reports.
Videos showed the damage which led to a postponement of the farewell ceremony, which was held later.
Simonyan claimed that a hotel where the RT film crew were based had been hit.
“By some miracle no one was seriously injured,” she said.
Kachura was a career police investigator rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel before switching to the forces of Putin-backed separatists.
She served in the 3rd separate motorised rifle brigade Berkut of the 1st Army Corps of the DPR, and commanded a Grad MLRS division in Horlivka.
There were 140 gunners under her command.
The mother of two had been wounded several times in previous attacks.
She had held the rank of colonel in the DPR forces since 2015.
Last year Ukraine sentenced her to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property for “participation in a terrorist group or terrorist organisation”.
She was head of the powerlifting federation of Horlivka, and an honorary citizen of the city, which was twinned with Barnsley in England.
Mayor of Horlivka Ivan Prikhodko said: “A brave and wise woman who was there from the start of the People's Militia of the DPR has tragically died.
“Olga Kachura, victorious and unshakable Korsa.”
She had also been awarded the Hero of DPR award.
Putin also lost two more colonels in his Russian forces, the latest proof of the devastating toll his high ranks have suffered.
Paratrooper Lt Colonel Ivan Pozdeev served in the Kutuzov Airborne Assault brigade in Ulyanovsk.
Acting Head of Komi Republic Vladimir Uyba said he “died as a hero during the special war operation in Ukraine”.
Russia has sought to obscure the number of high-ranking deaths in Ukraine.
It also came to light that Lt Col Denis Sorokin, a married father of two, died near Melitopol earlier in the war.
He was commander of an assault battalion, also awarded the Hero of Russia posthumously.
A dozen generals have been killed in the war.
