Vladimir Putin has lost his 42nd colonel in his war with Ukraine.
Col Denis Kozlov, 40, was the second commander of the 12th Separate Guards Engineers of Keningsbersko-Gorodokskaya Red Banner Brigade to die in the conflict.
He had replaced Colonel Sergei Porokhnya, 45, who was killed in Ukraine on March 14.
Kozlov “heroically died on May 11 when guiding a pontoon ferry to make a further advance of the troops”, said a local news outlet in Russia’s Vladimir region.
He was among Russian troops to perish in a failed advance across the Siverskyi Donets River when he and his men were ambushed by a devastating Ukrainian attack.
He was posthumously decorated with the Russian Order of Courage, and laid to rest in his hometown Murom.
His death - the 42nd known colonel to perish in the war - highlights the huge toll suffered by Putin’s top brass.
The attrition rate is around one colonel every two days.
