Red Army’s loses of 40,000 troops is hitting morale, Nato says

Putin loses his 15th top commander in Ukraine invasion as Russia suffers worst deaths among top brass since World War Two

Up to 40,000 Russian soldiers are believed to have been killed, injured or captured since Ukraine was invaded four weeks ago – and yet another of Moscow’s generals has died in action.

Nato declared the toll was having a major impact on the morale of President Vladimir Putin’s forces.

An official said yesterday that the number of Russians killed is between 7,000 and 15,000.

Adding in the wounded and those held prisoner takes the figure of soldiers taken out of the campaign to between 30,000 and 40,000, he suggested.

Some military experts believe Russia’s mission would be unsustainable if losses climbed to 30 per cent – around 60,000 men – as it has already called in reserves.

Putin’s invasion continued to suffer what is fast becoming Russia’s biggest loss of top commanders since the Second World War.

Colonel Alexei Sharov became the latest high-ranking official allegedly killed, with western officials saying they believe six of the initial 20 top generals have now been taken out.

‘They will have been replaced, though,’ they cautioned.

Putin’s fury would have mounted as his forces continued to stall in Kyiv, Kharkiv and Chernihiv while they achieved some success in the south at a ‘horrendous’ price.

Destroyed Russian tanks are seen on a main road after battles near Brovary, north of Kyiv

Ukrainian forces are also looking to recapture Kherson – its only major city under occupation.

Western officials believe Putin will focus his gaze on the east in the coming days, halting manoeuvres on the other two fronts to try and encircle Ukraine’s top troops.

It comes as Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov admitted the scale of western sanctions had stunned the Kremlin.

‘When they [froze] the central bank reserves, nobody who was predicting what sanctions the West would pass could have pictured that,’ he told university students.