A KREMLIN official confessed that Russian forces suffered “major casualties” in the botched invasion of Ukraine.

Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, called the losses a “great sorrow” for Russia.

In an interview with Sky News, the Kremlin press secretary disputed that the large losses were a disgrace for Moscow.

“No, it’s a misunderstanding of what’s going on,” he added.

However, he subsequently confessed, “We have considerable military losses, and it’s a big sorrow for us.”

It comes as the Russian death toll in Ukraine is said to be approaching 20,000 people, according to Ukrainian estimates.

According to a senior NATO source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the amount might be as high as 40,000 captured, injured, or killed Russian forces.

According to accounts, this has spurred Russian elite paratroopers to mount a rebellion after watching their friends being wiped out in combat.

The men were from the crucial airborne forces headquarters in Pskov, Russia’s far north.

The refusenik troops had been transported to Belarus as part of the invasion force, but following their mutiny, they were returned back to their base in Pskov in shame.

Some have been discharged and labelled “cowards,” while others will face the Russian version of a court-martial, which will almost certainly result in jail time.

According to reports, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu dispatched one of his deputies to Pskov to deal with the insubordination.

Ukraine claimed the 60 or so men were elite paratroopers, but this has yet to be confirmed, despite the fact that they are from Pskov, a main HQ of Russia’s most elite airborne forces.

According to the Russian opposition publication Pskovskaya Guberniya, “about 60 troops from Pskov refused to go to war on Ukrainian soil, according to our sources.”

“After the first days of the conflict, they were taken to the Republic of Belarus and subsequently back to their base in Pskov.”

“The majority of them are presently being dismissed, but others are facing criminal charges.”

It is the latest in a series of incidents in which Russian military have refused to fulfil Vladimir Putin’s instructions to invade Ukraine and “denazify” the country.

An previously detained Russian soldier from Pskov, Vladimir Safronov, 23, informed his Ukrainian interrogators about rationing issues and how his commanders were plundering civilians.

“Things are horrible with food, we’re always conserving it,” he explained.

“Very often we have a situation that a ration for one person is shared between two people.

He went on: “There is a lot of looting, I’ve personally seen it.

“I don’t support it, it was mainly senior sergeants and the commander who did it…

“I saw civilians who were hiding, people who were unable to evacuate, who lived in constant fear.

“I felt awfully sorry for them, it was scary to find them.”