NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned young Russian men they are being “sold a raw deal” if they agree to fight in Ukraine, citing the tens of thousands of Russian casualties each month.
It “will probably be you,” rather than an abstract figure, he said in his recent speech during the first-ever NATO-Ukraine Council held in Kyiv. He framed Moscow’s mobilization drive as a system that treats new recruits as expendable rather than as professional soldiers.
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“You are being sold a raw deal,” he said. “Men like you who join the fight, you won’t be trained. The equipment they’ll provide you is substandard.”
Addressing his remarks directly to potential conscripts, Rutte said that young men who heed the Kremlin’s call are likely to be deployed with little to no proper training and equipment, leaving them with a high chance of being killed or wounded.
“There is a very high chance you’ll die or be wounded while you’re out there. And odds are that if you are wounded, you will be left to suffer in the mud and die. So when we talk about tens of thousands of Russian casualties, that’s not abstract. That will probably be you.”
Rutte, who in earlier remarks has said that in a single month, Russia is now losing more than the Soviet Union lost over its entire 10-year war in Afghanistan in the 1980s, cited NATO estimates of more than 30,000 Russian casualties per month.
Zelensky: Russia Shifts Donetsk Capture Deadlines – Now at 15 Attempts
The comparison serves to underline the scale of human losses compressed into a much shorter period, as Moscow struggles to sustain its offensive with growing pressure on its mobilization system.
Recently, Russian State Duma deputy Gurulev said a new large-scale mobilization could be announced this fall, arguing that Russia’s winter-spring offensive failed to achieve expected results, with frontline losses remaining high.
Zelensky: Russia’s “final argument” and mounting losses
Hosting the first-ever meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council in Kyiv, Zelensky said Russia’s ballistic missiles, with their speed and destructive payloads, now pose the greatest threat to Ukraine’s security, even compared to the massive drone waves that systematically target cities and energy infrastructure.
At the same time, he pointed to Ukraine’s own battlefield performance and long-range strike capabilities, with Ukraine gradually reclaiming occupied territory.
“In May, Russia achieved almost no significant results on the battlefield. And this matters,” he said.
According to Zelensky, Russian losses now amount to 30,000-35,000 troops per month, with roughly two-thirds killed and more than one-third severely wounded – a pattern he described as “huge, irrecoverable losses” that are steadily shrinking the strength of Russia’s occupation force.
Zelensky has repeatedly argued that Russian losses of this scale, coupled with Ukraine’s growing long-range capabilities and tightening Western support, are steadily shifting the balance of leverage.
This pressure, he argued, is forcing Russia into a strategic dilemma: move towards diplomacy or accept military and economic losses.
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