Three Russian commanders have been killed in a Ukrainian city while Z-marked tanks were abandoned during a stalled invasion.
It comes as Ukrainian forces have recaptured Chuhuiv with defence officials claiming they have inflicted heavy losses on the Russian army.
Lieutenant General Serhiy Shaptala said his troops had seized Chuhuiv from Russian control, killing large numbers of Putin’s men.
Two high-ranking Russian commanders were reportedly killed in the battle.
“In the course of hostilities, the city of Chuhuiv was liberated,” the General Staff said on Facebook.
“The occupiers suffered heavy losses in personnel and equipment.
“Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov, Commander of the 61st Seperate Marine Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, and Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov, Deputy Commander of the 11th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces, were killed,” it went on.
Footage from the scene shows a “Z” marked military vehicle with the Ukrainian flag while chanting can be heard.
In another clip, believed to have been filmed Chaplynka, Kakhovka Raion two men can be seen urinating on a Russian “Z” marked tank.
Chuhuiv, a small city of 30,000 people 22 miles southeast of Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv, was one of the first taken by the Russians.
A week ago, a young boy was killed in the city after heavy shelling struck an apartment block.
The image of a woman with a heavily-bandaged and bleeding face following the shelling in Chuhuiv became one of the defining images of the conflict so far.
Despite losing a key city, Russia has issued a list of three key demands on Ukraine to end the war.
A Kremlin spokesman called for Ukraine to cease military action, change its constitution to become a neutral country, acknowledge Crimea as Russian territory and recognise the separatist republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that Russia had told Ukraine it was ready to halt its military action “in a moment” if Kyiv met its conditions.
And he insisted Russia wasn’t seeking any further territorial claims in Ukraine.
A total of 406 Ukrainian civilians including 27 children have died since the conflict began, the UN Human Rights Agency has said.
It added that 801 injuries have been reported as well, although the true figure could be far higher.
And today, 13 people have been killed in a strike on a bakery in the Ukrainian town of Makariv near Kyiv.
