First female Soldier killed in Ukraine

The first female Russian soldier killed in Ukraine was buried today as Vladimir Putin faced yet another day of appalling war losses among his high-ranking officers.

Corporal Anastasia Savitskaya, 35, a married mother-of-two said to be a ‘real hero’, was buried today in her native Volgograd, a city on southwest Russia.

“The deceased became the first servicewoman who died during the special military operation,’ said Alexander Strukov, the local veterans’ leader.

Savitskaya becomes one of the latest Russian colonels to be killed in Ukraine amid the Russian president’s brutal on-going invasion of the country, that has seen Ukraine’s forces put up fierce defence of their country.

While the full scale of Russia’s military losses is unknown, it is estimated that Putin’s forces have suffered more than 30,000 deaths. At least 70 colonels have been killed after at least 12 were killed in just two days.

A friend of Savitskaya said: ‘She had dreamed of serving in the army since childhood, and signed a contract at the age of 18.’ Going to war in Ukraine ‘was her choice,’ they said.

Her bereft husband – a former soldier, not named – said at her funeral: ‘How will I carry on living now? Why did I let you go there? Beloved, beautiful, best.’

Unlike some Western countries it remains rare for Russian servicewomen to go to war. Ukraine, for example, has seen several female soldiers join the fighting.

A eulogy at the woman’s funeral said: ‘A female warrior has always been an exception to the rule. But Anastasia, having mastered the ‘home’ front, went without fear to a dangerous special operation, accomplishing a double feat.’