Pakistani users on social media platforms X and TikTok have been sharing videos since Monday that allegedly showed the Indian Army chief admitting to the loss of six jets and 250 soldiers in the recent military conflict against Pakistan. However, he made no such statement, and the viral video is a deepfake.
During the May 7–10, 2025, clashes between India and Pakistan, both sides issued conflicting claims about aircraft losses. Pakistan initially stated that it had downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat on May 7, later revising the figure to six, and claimed it had also destroyed India’s S-400 air defence batteries, unmanned aircraft, and disabled several Indian airbases. Pakistan denied losing any of its own aircraft during the fighting.
However, on August 9, Indian Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh claimed that India had shot down five Pakistani fighter jets and one other large aircraft, possibly a surveillance plane, mostly using its Russian-made S-400 missile system. He further alleged that Indian strikes had damaged additional Pakistani aircraft, including F-16s, while they were parked in hangars at airbases in Sindh and Punjab.
On August 11, a propaganda account on X shared a video claiming to show the Indian Army chief making a statement about heavy military losses.
The caption of the post said: “Breaking: Indian Army chief admits losing six jets and 250 soldiers in war against Pakistan.”
The transcript of the clip is provided below:
“Non-kinetic quadrant is something which you can start today, and the next war which we are looking at. It may happen soon, and we have to prepare accordingly, as already brought out by the director that in this we have to fight this battle together. This non-kinetic has to be fought together. We have already lost six jets and 250 soldiers, but we will never give up.
“We will learn. We have some deductions. So what are the deductions? That, as far as the whole nation’s approach will be there for the next war, it is not the military alone which will be fighting.
“Let me assure you very clearly this issue. As far as the grey zone is concerned, it is ever-present, and this will remain.”
The video gained 140,700 views.
The same clip, with a similar claim, was also shared by former provincial minister Jan Achakzai.
Multiple pro-military accounts shared the same claim as can be seen here, here and here.
Other X users also amplified the claim, with posts appearing here, here, here, here and here.
The same claim was also shared on TikTok.
A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality and keen public interest in the Pakistan-India conflict, particularly the issue of military losses.
Observing the clip showed that while the speech appeared normal at first, noticeable anomalies emerged around the 20-second mark. At this point, the lip-syncing became mismatched, the pace of the speech abruptly increased and the facial expressions appeared unnatural.
By the 26-second mark, the video returned to its normal state. These observations indicated that the segment between 20 and 25 seconds had been altered from the original speech.
For clarification, the complete speech of Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi was reviewed. The full video, dated August 10, 2025, was available on the Republic World YouTube channel, in which he was briefing the media about the India–Pakistan situation and addressing what he described as fake narratives.
At the 10:46-minute mark, General Dwivedi stated:
“Non-kinetic quadrant is something which you can start today, and the next war which we are looking at — it may happen soon, and we have to prepare accordingly. As already brought out by the director, in this we have to fight this battle together. This non-kinetic has to be fought together.”
His next sentence was: “So what are the deductions? That, as far as the whole nation’s approach will be there for the next war, it is not the military alone which will be fighting.”
The original speech did not have him saying anything about losing six jets and 250 soldiers.
Therefore, the fact-check determined that the claim that a viral video shows the Indian Army chief admitting to losing six jets and 250 soldiers in the recent conflict against Pakistan is false. The viral clip is a deepfake, and the Indian Army chief did not make such a statement.
This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.
