TWO MORE of Vladimir Putin’s top commanders have been killed in Ukraine, raising the death toll from Russia’s disastrous invasion.

According to reports, Kremlin officials have launched a purge of those they believe are responsible for the bloody disaster in Ukraine that has killed up to 15,300 Russian soldiers.

Major Dmitry Toptun, the commander of a motorised battalion, was reported to have been killed when his armoured vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missile during fighting in Izyum, near Kharkiv.

In addition, paratrooper commander Major Alexey Osokin is said to have been killed in Ukraine during the fighting.

The duo adds to the death toll, which is estimated to be 17 of Putin’s senior commanders since Putin’s invasion last month.

Meanwhile, three Spetsnaz special forces commandos were “liquidated” during the battle for Mariupol, including one dubbed “Agent Stalin” after the ruthless Soviet leader.

Putin expected to sweep through Ukraine in a matter of days, but the war has kept his forces bogged down for nearly a month.

Kyiv is still standing, and Ukrainian forces are said to be pushing back in some areas, retaking territory previously lost to the Russians.

Moscow’s forces appear to have pushed into Ukraine while underequipped, undersupplied, and undertrained, only to be broken by the resistance.

Ukraine is now littered with burnt-out wrecks of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles, charred shells of crashed planes, and the dead bodies of Russian soldiers, many of whom were teenage conscripts.

Putin’s cronies have reportedly launched a vicious witch hunt to find the “guilty men” behind Ukraine’s failures.

According to sources, the mad tyrant is “incandescent” that the United States and the United Kingdom have received leaks of his military plans, which have been passed on to the Ukrainians.

This alleged leak is thought to be one of the reasons why top generals and his most elite forces have been targeted and killed so effectively.

The war continues, with intense fighting centred on Mariupol, which has been decimated by an ongoing barrage of Russian artillery and warships.

However, Ukraine continues to hold the Russians back, with reports that Moscow has lost three members of the top special forces Spetsnaz.

Captain Konstantin Druzhkov, 33, Islam Abduragimov, 19, and Shamil Aselderov, age not specified, were identified as the three.

Documents associated with the men were discovered in a captured Tigr armoured vehicle.

The captain is thought to have used the alias Konstantin Dzhugashvili.

Josef Stalin’s real surname was Dzhugashvili, and he was the brutal wartime leader of the Soviet Union.

In the midst of these mounting losses, anti-war sentiment in Russia is growing, with over 15,000 protesters arrested in a brutal crackdown.

Putin is said to be growing increasingly wary of his close ally and vacation buddy Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, who is in overall command of the bloody military operation.

His public appearances have been significantly reduced in the last week, while his younger daughter Ksenia, 31, has been seen posing in Ukrainian blue and yellow.

According to reports, the top defence official may be suffering from health issues.

According to sources, Putin has been dismissive of long-time ally Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB security service, in private and has begun snapping at Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian general staff, in meetings.

Bortnikov has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Putin in the event of a coup.

Igor Kostyukov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, is another target of Putin’s rage, and he may be fired soon as part of a larger purge.

He publicly humiliated SVR foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin prior to the invasion.

Yet, according to reports, Putin is more concerned with military hardware losses, which he has blamed on Gerasimov, than with increased battlefield casualties.

Some believe he is planning a deal in early May that he will sell as a Ukrainian “surrender” and a “victory parade” in Moscow.

“He is incandescent that US and UK intelligence appear to know the Russian army’s next moves all the time, beginning with predicting the invasion before he was ready to admit it,” one source said.

The loss of a half-dozen generals is thought to be linked to real-time leaks of his military operation movements.

According to Russian security expert Andrei Soldatov, military counterintelligence is investigating an FSB security service department.

“That could mean that, at some point, people in Moscow began to wonder why US intelligence was so accurate,” he told The New Yorker.

“Military counterintelligence is primarily concerned with mole-hunting and identifying the sources of leaks.”

“So it appears that Putin is now enraged, not only with bad intelligence and poor performance in Ukraine, but also with the sourcing of US intelligence about the invasion, and why US intelligence was so good before the invasion, and why the Americans knew so much about what was coming.”

He also believes Putin when he blames his subordinates for “the lack of popular support in Ukraine for Russian troops,” as if locals were expected to cheer the invaders’ arrival.

Putin’s top aides, he claims, are afraid to tell him the truth.

“You have so many people in jail now, including F.S.B. agents.” So, from the perspective of a military general, do you believe it is safe to say something to Putin that he will not like? I believe it will be a significant challenge for them.”

Because of the fearful atmosphere, intelligence on the scale of Ukraine’s likely resistance to Russian invaders was kept from Putin.

Despite the increasingly hostile treatment they are receiving, Soldatov does not anticipate a move by his inner circle to assassinate Putin.

“I think Putin is almost out of danger now,” he told Germany’s ZDF Heute.

“He has two security services, both of which are primarily concerned with his safety.”

“We know that he himself is a former intelligence officer, who understands the different risks.

“He often claims that he successfully survived from 12 to 13 assassination attempts on his life.

“In this sense, everything is safe for him.”