Did Indian Army Chief Admit to Losing 250 Soldiers in War Against Pakistan? No!

The video showing Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi has been altered to make the false claim.

An altered video is being shared with the false claim that India's Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi admitted that India lost over 250 soldiers in a war against Pakistan.

(Source: X/Altered by The Quint)

A video showing India’s Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi giving a speech about India's conflict with Pakistan is being widely shared on social media.

The claim: At one point in the video, he purportedly says, "The Indian Army suffered heavy losses along the LOC (Line of Control), with around 250 soldiers martyred, and at the same time, the complete movement of our assets was being closely monitored by Pakistani and Chinese satellites."

An archived version of this claim can be seen here.

(Source: X/Screenshot)

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the video has been altered to make the false claim.

• In his original address, General Dwivedi talks about India giving Pakistan an opportunity for peace and does not mention losing 250 people to Pakistan, as claimed.

How do we know?: The video carries the logo of the news organisation The Indian Express, so we looked for the full video on their verified YouTube channel.

• Here, we found that it was uploaded on 26 July, on the occasion of Kargil Vijay Diwas and showed General Dwivedi speaking at the Kargil War Memorial in Drass, Ladakh.

• He began by speaking about the importance of the day, mentioning that in 1989, the Indian Army had achieved a "unique victory" in Kargil under Operation Vijay by "expelling Pakistani soldiers and intruders" from the country and hoisted the tricolour there.

• "This was the moment when India made it clear - any nefarious intent within its borders will not be successful. India's unity and integrity will not be affected," he said.

• General Dwivedi went on say that the tradition continued during Operation Sindoor, where the Indian Army "targeted the Pakistan-backed terrorist infrastructure with the same indomitable courage and determination and effectively thwarted other aggressive actions of Pakistan and won a decisive victory."

The following part of his speech, starting at the 2:06-minute mark, is the section which differs from the clip in the viral claim, as he made no mention of Indian losses during Operation Sindoor, or that Indian movements were being monitored by Pakistan or China.

• Instead, he continued to the statement which follows the section, where he said, "We gave an opportunity for peace, but they acted cowardly and we answered it with great might."

• The Chief of Army Staff then spoke about India's "accurate and measured" response to the Pahalgam terror attack and the Pakistani military's response to Operation Sindoor, stating that the "whole of nation" approach by the Indian Army, Air Force, the Navy, private and government departments, along with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) were involved.

• The Indian Express' report on the speech, also made no mention about losses on the Indian side or India's movements being monitored by anyone.

PIB clarifies: The Press Information Bureau, too, issued a clarification, stating that the video was "manipulated" and "an AI-generated deepfake video."

Conclusion: An altered video showing Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi is being shared to falsely claim that he admitted that India lost over 250 soldiers in a war against Pakistan.

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