ONE of Putin's top colonels has been killed in a suspected car bomb inUkraine, as the net tightens around Vlad and his inner circle.
Bardin Artem Igorevich, appointed by the Kremlin to oversee the Ukrainian city of Berdyansk, was reportedly killed in the explosion that sent smoke pouring into the sky.
Horror footage showed the commander's vehicle blazing just moments after the blast which shook the city in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region.
A treelined city centre street, next to an administrative office used by the Russian occupiers, was rocked by the explosion.
Igorevich was rushed to hospital in a critical condition, but died later from his injuries, according to Yaroslav Trofimov, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, quoting the Russian military regime in Zaporizhzhia.
However, a Russian official for Zaporizhzhia, quoted in state-controlled outlet Gazeta Russiya, later appeared to deny his own department's statement, claiming that Igorevich was still alive and fighting for life.
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Following the explosion, a fierce gunfight broke out in Beredyansk, with video capturing the sounds of gunshots ringing out across the occupied city.
On his Telegram channel, Zaporizhzhia-based Russian official Vladimir Rogov described the killing as a terror strike.
He told Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti that Zelensky's regime was behind the attack, and said an inquiry had been launched.
Rogov added that three other vehicles had been damaged in the blast, but there were no other casualties.
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Although Kyiv hasn't openly taken credit for the attack, it is believed they were carried out by pro-Ukraine forces.
It comes as Ukraine claimed Russia's death toll in the war has topped 50,000.
Bardin is just the latest Russian-imposed official to be killed in Ukraine, as Vlad's forces remain bogged down in the south and east of the country.
Last month, another top pro-Putin official was killed in a car bomb in Ukraine, with the blame placed on Ukrainian forces.
Russian collaborator Ivan Sushko, 40, was appointed by the Russian military as an official in Zaporizhzhia.
The married father died after the explosion ripped through his car, with the shocking moment captured on CCTV.
Guys who betrayed Ukraine… will be for the rest of their lives hunted down
Putin loyalist Ivan Rogov said the attack was carried out by "saboteurs" in the region and vowed to track them down.
He claimed that Ukraine was attacking Russian-backed officials who "help improve the lives of ordinary people".
The dead man's wife Tatyana accused "Ukrainian Nazis" of carrying out the car bombing.
His death came just days after the daughter of Putin's alleged war guru was assassinated.
Alexander Dugin’s daughter died in a car bomb on the outskirts of Moscow, in an attack Russia blames on Ukraine, but Kyiv denies having carried out.
Last month, a pro-Russian police chief in eastern Ukraine was discovered hanging.
Ukraine's resistance movement has taken out a number of officials in recent weeks, with leading Russian stooges blown up, poisoned and shot, as the net closes on Putin.
It comes as Ukrainian and Russian assassins race to take Putin out before he escalates his unwinnable war.
Putin faces a "double whammy" of threats from his inner circle who are believed to be secretly calling for his head, experts claim.
Former NATO chief Gary Tabach, now based in Kyiv, said Ukrainian forces were "hunting down" Kremlin sympathisers in the occupied territories.
He told The Sun Online: "Guys who betrayed Ukraine; some of the deputies, some of the leaders of Ukraine who ended up in Russia right now voluntarily, will be for the rest of their lives hunted down.
"Ukrainians have a very good imagination, they're very innovative and are good at tracking them down."
Shadowy guerrilla fighters, who have been training before the invasion with the help of US and UK special forces, have ruthlessly eliminated collaborators with the aim of sowing fear in their ranks.
"The goal is to show the occupiers that they are not at home, that they should not settle in, that they should not sleep comfortably," one guerrilla told the New York Times.
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Attacks behind Russian lines are the responsibility of the military intelligence service, known as HUR, and Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces.
The resistance is organised on a cell structure and kept separate from each other so even under torture captured fighters will be unable to reveal key players.
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