KYIV, June 3 (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday warned young Russians that they ‌would probably die if they sign up to ‌join Russia's war in Ukraine.

"You are being sold a raw deal," ​Rutte said during a press conference in Kyiv, in remarks he directly addressed to "young Russians and their families".

"Men like you who join the fight - you won't be ‌trained. Equipment they'll provide ⁠you with is substandard. There is a very high chance you'll die or be ⁠wounded while you're out there," he said.

"And odds are, that if you are wounded, you will be left ​to suffer ​in the mud and ​die."

Rutte said Russia was ‌incurring "absolutely staggering" losses in Ukraine, where he said more than 30,000 Russian soldiers died every month - matching figures he has cited before.

"This means losing more men in one month than the Soviet Union did in 10 ‌years in the 1980s in ​Afghanistan," the NATO chief said.

"That's not ​abstract," he said. "That ​will probably be you."

Russia, which officially describes ‌the conflict as a "special military ​operation" and promises ​recruits large salaries, has long argued that NATO's eastward enlargement since the end of the Cold ​War — and the ‌prospect of Ukraine joining the alliance — pose an ​existential threat to its security.

(Reporting by Bart ​Meijer; Editing by Hugh Lawson)