Trump says Ukraine is covering up war losses

US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has claimed that the Ukrainian government is covering up the number of people being killed in the war, although he did not explain why he believes Kyiv is doing this.

Source: European Pravda, citing Trump in a podcast by Lex Fridman on 3 September

Details: Trump reiterated his claim that if he was elected president, he would "guarantee" to make a deal to end the war in Ukraine; and that if he had been president the war would not have happened in the first place, and that Joe Biden – "the worst president in the history of our country" – is to blame.

Trump then began to talk about the number of people who have been killed in the war, repeatedly emphasising that the actual number is "a lot higher than people think".

"When you take a look at the destruction and the buildings coming down all over the place in Ukraine, I think those numbers are going to be a lot higher. They [the Ukrainians – ed.] lie about the numbers, they try to keep them low. They knock down a building that’s two blocks long – these are big buildings – and they say that one person was mildly injured. No, no, a lot of people were killed. And there are people in those buildings, and they have no chance. Once they start coming down, there’s no chance," Trump said.

A little later, Trump stressed that he had a "very exacting plan on how to stop Ukraine and Russia" and an "idea" of what to do with China.

"But I can’t give you those plans, because if I give you those plans, I’m not going to be able to use them, they’ll be very unsuccessful. You know, part of it's surprise, right? But they won’t be able to help us much," he stated.

Background: 

• Donald Trump talks a lot about the existence of a certain "plan" to end the war in Ukraine "within 24 hours" if he wins the November presidential race.
• Proposals are publicised by his advisers or people close to him from time to time, but it is not certain to what extent they represent Trump's own views.

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