NATO secretary general says losses in Russia's war against Ukraine exceed 1 million people

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said that the number of people killed and wounded in the Russo-Ukrainian war since February 2022 has exceeded one million.

Source: Rutte in a speech in Brussels on 12 December, quoted by European Pravda

Details: The NATO secretary general stressed that the war in Ukraine causes more destruction and deaths every day.

"Every week, there are over 10,000 killed or wounded on all sides in Ukraine. Over one million casualties since February 2022. Putin is trying to wipe Ukraine off the map," the NATO secretary general said. 

He specified that Russia's losses have reached 700,000 people.

"The front is moving in the wrong direction very slowly at a high cost for the Russians. They have already lost 700,000 people [killed] or wounded. This month is again a record month in terms of the amount of casualties," Rutte said.

He noted that Putin's aggression is far from a new pattern, but NATO allies have been unresponsive for too long.

Rutte also warned that the Alliance is unprepared for the threats it will face from Russia in the coming years and called for a shift to a wartime mindset with much more spending on defence.

Background: 

• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently released figures showing that 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 370,000 wounded since 24 February 2022.
• According to Zelenskyy, Russia has lost over 750,000 people: 198,000 killed and more than 550,000 wounded.

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