RUTTE: PUTIN IS SACRIFICING RUSSIA’S PEOPLE FOR AN UNPROVOKED WAR
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says Russia’s battlefield losses and deteriorating economy show that the country is “not in a good place,” despite the Kremlin’s attempts to project strength
“When you look at Ukraine, they’re losing at the moment over 40,000 a month—dead or seriously wounded,” Rutte said. “These numbers are staggering. They are huge.”
Rutte acknowledged the human tragedy behind those figures, particularly for the Russian families losing relatives in a war they did not choose. But he said the scale of the losses exposes Vladimir Putin’s willingness to sacrifice his own population to continue an unprovoked war of aggression.
“This also shows you that you have to deal with a president who is willing to sacrifice now up to 1.2 million of his own people,” Rutte said.
Ukraine’s General Staff estimated that Russia suffered another 1,440 personnel losses during the latest 24-hour period. Separately, Ukraine’s Third Army Corps reported approximately 2,000 Russian personnel losses throughout the third phase of Operation Vivaldi—not in a single day.
Russia continues feeding tens of thousands of people into the war every month, yet it has still failed to break Ukraine or achieve the victory Putin promised.