NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said Russia is suffering between 30,000 and 35,000 troop deaths every month, calling the figures "very impressive" — a rare, high-level Western acknowledgment of the scale of Russian battlefield losses. The statement was reported by Abu Ali Express, citing Rutte's public remarks.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte offered a stark — and rare — public assessment of Russian troop losses in Ukraine during remarks on Thursday, stating that between 30,000 and 35,000 Russian soldiers are being killed each month and describing the figures as "very impressive." The statement, cited by the Israeli outlet Abu Ali Express, comes as the war in Ukraine nears its fourth year and follows months of grinding attritional battles along the eastern front.
Rutte did not specify whether the figure reflects confirmed deaths only or includes presumed killed. He also did not offer a breakdown by branch or operation. The figure is significantly higher than most open-source estimates, which have typically pegged Russian monthly losses — killed and wounded combined — at around 20,000-25,000 in recent months. The NATO chief's tally, if referring exclusively to fatalities, would indicate a far higher rate of attrition than previously publicly acknowledged by Western officials.
The comment is Rutte's second high-profile intervention this week regarding the war. Earlier, he addressed the US-Iran nuclear framework deal, and last week he confirmed the reduction of US forces from Europe had taken effect. The Zioneer has previously reported on Russian missile production capacity (Zelensky cited 120 ballistic missiles per month) and on German air force readiness to strike Russian targets; Rutte's loss figure adds a new dimension to NATO's framing of the conflict — pointing to unsustainable personnel losses as a key pressure point on Moscow.
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