Colonel dies after suffering shrapnel wounds near Kharkiv as Russian troop death toll reaches 20,600

The top brass toll from Vladimir Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine continues to rise, with the death of another colonel.

Colonel Ivan Grishin, commander of the 49th anti-aircraft missile brigade, died from abdominal shrapnel wounds. He was killed near Kharkiv.

The news comes amid reports from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that 20,600 Russian servicemen have been killed in the war.

Artem Malashchenkov, an MP from Smolensk, said: ‘Sleep well, dear friend, your death will not be in vain.

Colonel Ivan Grishin, Commander of the 49th anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Russian Army’s tactical air defence unit, is reported to have been killed in UkraineRoman Akimov, 18, from Krasnoyarsk region in Siberia, ‘died heroically while performing his military duty during the special operation to liberate Donbas,’ said his local district administration.

His grieving parents Evgenia and Ivan were handed his posthumous Order of Courage, awarded on the instructions of Putin.

His mutilated remains were only identified by DNA and it took three weeks before his parents were informed of his death.

Another casualty was Roman Akimov, 18, the youngest known Russian serviceman to die in the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine

Another casualty was Roman Akimov, 18, the youngest known Russian serviceman to die in the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine