DEMORALISED Russian troops are reportedly switching sides and joining Ukrainian forces in the fight against Putin.

Captured Russian troops have even formed their own battalion, and have been pictured training with their new Ukrainian comrades-in-arms.

In a video posted on the app Telegram, a man claiming to be a former Russian soldier says he is now part of the so-called Freedom of Russia legion.

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said on Telegram on Wednesday that commanders in this new legion are visiting detained Russian soldiers to select those who will switch sides and fight in the war for Ukraine.

In a follow-up post, it said the "first volunteers" of ex-Russian troops "have already begun" their training.

"Today the legion's personnel, under the guidance of Ukrainian Armed Forces instructors, studied an NLAW grenade launcher," the post said, alongside pictures of captured Rusian troops being shown how to use modern weapons.

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It added that the detained Russians "expressed a common desire on behalf of all the volunteers to conduct the first battle against the guard dogs of the Putin regime – the Kadyrovites".

This refers to fighters from Chechnya loyal to the Russian republic's warlord leader and Putin ally, Ramzan Kadyrov, who have come to fight in Ukraine.

Reports have flooded in since the start of the invasion that Russia's supposedly formidable army is in fact poorly-armed and using equipment dating back to the Soviet Union.

On Tuesday, a Russian commander killed himself after reportedly learning that 90 per cent of his unit's infamous Z tanks were useless.

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Last week, another Russian soldier drove a tank into his commanding officer in protest at the horrific losses among his comrades.

So far, Russia has lost more than 17,000 men in the fighting, according to Ukrainian reports.

Earlier this month, captured Russian soldiers were filmed crying as they accused Putin of throwing their comrades into mass graves and called for an uprising against the 69-year-old.

While in further humiliation to Putin, a Russian tank driver surrendered in return for the equivalent of £7,500 and Ukrainian citizenship.

It comes as…

• Terrified Roman Abramovich asked if he was going to die after being poisoned by a deadly WWI chemical agent.
• Russia has said it is to "drastically reduce" forces near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv as its invasion continues to falter.
• Putin "must think we were born yesterday" if he thinks Britain believes his troops are pulling out of Kyiv.
• A suspected arms depot was allegedly hit by a Ukrainian missile, sparking firework-like explosions.
• Russia has reportedly lost a seventh colonel since the start of fighting in another major blow to Putin's army.
• Putin has re-opened Bond-villain style military bases deep inside the Arctic Circle.
• Chechnya's fighters arrived in Ukraine with a fearsome reputation, but have faced bloody slaughter on the battlefield, reports claim.
• Paranoid Putin and his inner circle are reportedly living in top-secret nuclear bunkers as the bloody war unfolds in Ukraine.

It comes after reports that Ukrainian mechanics are repairing Russian tanks to be used by their own forces against the invaders.

Vladimir Putin’s forces have lost thousands of vehicles in the war in Ukraine, including around 600 tanks and over 1700 other armoured vehicles.

Many of their burnt-out shells now litter the landscape after being blasted by Kyiv’s forces.

But ingenious Ukrainian mechanics have also been at work repairing ones that can be salvaged.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia has become one of the main suppliers of arms to their enemy.

"We take trophies and use them to protect Ukraine," he said.

"Today, Russian troops are, in fact, one of the suppliers of equipment to our army."

In factories as well as small workshops, staff are being redirected to repairing equipment captured from Russian forces in the fighting.

"We will remake the weapons so the barrels will be directed at the enemy’s side, not ours," Kyiv garage owner Oleksandr Fedchecnko told the Daily Mail.

RUSSIA’S SLAIN COMMANDERS

Putin’s top brass killed since the invasion of Ukraine:

• Major Dmitry Toptun
• Major Alexey Osokin
• Lieutenant General Andrei Mordvichev
• Major General Vitaly Gerasimov
• Major General Andrei Kolesnikov
• Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky
• Colonel Nikolay Ovcharenko
• Colonel Sergei Porokhyna
• Colonel Sergei Sukharev
• Colonel Andrei Zakharov
• Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky
• Lieutenant Colonel Yuri Agarkov
• Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov
• Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov
• Major Viktor Maksimchuk
• General Magomed Tushaev
• Colonel Alexei Sharov
• Colonel Yuri Medvedev
• Colonel Denis Kurilo

Humiliatingly for Russian forces, many of their abandoned tanks have been towed from the battlefield by farmers in their tractors.

A special unit army unit has been tasked with repairing captured equipment in a Kyiv junkyard with the Ukrainian flag painted over the infamous Russian Z.

Yuri Golodov, the unit’s deputy commander, says has been responsible for 24 Uragan missiles fired back at Russian forces.

"Everything that we take away from the Russian army, we transfer to the armed forces of Ukraine," he told CNN.

"Everything is in working condition. It looks like old weaponry, but actually, if you use it correctly it will serve us for a long time."

The Ukrainian’s task is helped by its forces using many of the same types of tanks as their Russian foes.

They operate at least two models that the Russians also use, the T-72 and the T-80.

In fact, according to some calculations, Ukraine now has more tanks than at the start of the invasion thanks ones it has captured.

Its army has lost at least 74 tanks since Russia invaded but has captured at least 117 Russian tanks, reports Forbes, quoting open-source intelligence analysts.

In addition to the shocking troop losses, Putin has also lost eight colonels, the latest of his commanders to die in battle.

The death of Denis Kurilo, commander of the 200th motorised rifle brigade, represents another damaging blow to the Kremlin, which has seen many of its top brass wiped out in Ukraine as they struggle to control an army featuring thousands of conscripts.

While tanks are not the only weapons being turned on the Russians.

State defence company Ukroboronprom is now offering a $1million reward for any aircraft it receives.

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The company says it has "mastered the repair of Russian trophy equipment".

Factories are working "around the clock" to get anti-aircraft missile systems and multiple rocket launchers back onto the battlefield.

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