3 hours ago

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte compares Russia’s monthly losses in the war in Ukraine with the total losses recorded by the United States during its 14 years of involvement in the Vietnam War

Riana Gegiu

12 November 2026, 14:07

International

Foto: Shutterstock.com

Always see our news on Google

The Russian army may have lost more than 40,000 troops per month in recent months, killed or seriously wounded, according to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. In October, the toll may have exceeded 50,000 casualties, the official said in a speech delivered on Wednesday, November 11, at the Atlantic Future Forum.

Rutte compared Russia’s monthly losses with those suffered by the United States during its 14-year war in Vietnam, when the U.S. military lost approximately 56,000 people. The NATO official provided no details about the estimation methodology, and the figures have not been independently confirmed.

The Alliance’s secretary general accused Moscow of trying to weaken Ukraine’s resolve through attacks on cities and critical infrastructure ahead of winter. He also warned of an intensification of Russia’s hostile actions in Europe, including arson attacks, drone incidents, and cyberattacks.

Estimates of Russian losses vary. The Economist put the number of military casualties since the start of the full-scale invasion at between 1.4 million and 2.1 million, of whom between 374,000 and 770,000 may have died.

Context: what estimates have previously emerged regarding Russia’s losses

Before the most recent assessments, there had been several estimates regarding Russia’s losses: a data leak attributed to a cyberattack on Rosstat indicated that more than 450,000 Russians may have died by then in the war in Ukraine, and the figure would include both active-duty personnel and civilians killed in airstrikes or during Ukraine’s 2024 incursion into the Kursk region.

Separately, a NATO official estimated that Russia may have lost more than 50,000 military personnel in September 2026 (killed and wounded), compared with approximately 5,000 Ukrainian losses reported for the same period, while Ukrainian assessments put Moscow’s total losses at more than 1.5 million soldiers since the beginning of the war.

In turn, British intelligence services assessed, during another time window, that nearly 500,000 Russian military personnel may have been killed since the February 2022 invasion, also estimating total losses (including the wounded and missing) at approximately 1.5 million.