Russia loses its 58th officer of the war with tank commander killed in Donbas region as Putin's forces continue to suffer heavy casualties. 

Vladimir Putin has lost yet another high-ranking military officer amid bitter fighting in Ukraine as his forces suffer a series of humiliating setbacks. 

Lieutenant Colonel Yegor Meleshenko, 43, was killed in the Donbas region while fighting. 

Meleshenko, a tank battalion commander, is the 58th colonel to have been killed since Putin ordered his troops over the border on February 24. 

No further details have been given about how Meleshenko died - but his death highlights the appalling losses of high-ranking officers suffered by Russia.

The war, which has now raged for more than four months, has also seen the slaying of at least 11 Russian generals - though the true death toll may be higher given the tendency of Russian authorities to conceal its death tolls. 

Analysts say Putin is unmoved by the scale of his losses - now believed to total well over 30,000 - as he presses for a new land grab in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.