Putin believes his army "number one" despite losing 34,000 personnel since February

Vladimir Putin has said Russia has the world's best armed forces and issued a threat about his country's nuclear missile capabilities.

The claim by the Russian president comes amid a statement from Ukraine's armed forces that Russia's army had lost more than 34,000 troops since the start of his invasion on February 24, according to Newsweek.

The Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that Putin had told a meeting of the State Council on June 21 that there are "no more effective armed forces in the world today than in Russia."

"The current situation will allow further improvement of the army," the paper said in reporting his comments.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on June 21 that Russia had lost over 34,000 military personnel during the full-scale military invasion.

The true number of Russian troop losses is difficult to verify. One estimate from the RUSI Defense Systems online journal this week put the figure at between 18,000 to 20,000. In its last update on March 25, Russia's defence ministry, which Newsweek has contacted for comment, said that 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed.

Earlier on June 21, Putin also outlined a larger build-up of Russia's military. He told military graduates in Moscow that Russia had successfully tested the Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system which would be "on combat duty" by the end of 2022.