Official figures suggest that Vladimir Putin's invasion has taken a heavy toll on the country with more than half a million Russian men of fighting age registered as disabled in the first year of the Ukraine war.

New welfare statistics suggest that hundreds of thousands of men have been left wounded as Russian chiefs hide the death toll.

In May 2022, Putin changed the law so that people aged 40 and over can enlist in the armed forces.

The Russian president then raised the age again by 10 years in July last year.

Moscow figures cited in a Nato intelligence briefing show a 30 per cent rise in men registered as disabled in the year after the invasion in February 2022.

A senior Nato chief said: "Just according to Russian pension statistics alone, from 2022 to 2023 the number of men aged 31 to 59 with disabilities increased by 30 per cent, or by 507,000."

The Russian frontline death toll is estimated to be between 66,000 and 88,000 men, according to independent Russian media organisations and the US.

President Zelensky confirmed that 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed.