Fox News host Tucker Carlson during a broadcast on April 13.
Fox News
Fox News host Tucker Carlson shared made-up casualty figures about the Ukraine-Russia war.
He cited numbers from “leaked intelligence” to argue that Ukraine is losing the war with Russia.
Actual leaked US intelligence documents paint a very different picture.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Thursday rattled off seemingly made-up casualty figures from “leaked intelligence” to argue that Ukraine is losing the war with Russia.
But the actual leaked classified United States documents show that more than twice as many Russian soldiers as Ukrainian troops have been killed.
During his “Tucker Carlson Tonight” broadcast, the Fox News star said that the leaked documents show “Ukraine is in fact losing the war.”
“Seven Ukrainians are being killed for every Russian,” Carlson claimed, without citing his direct source.
A recently leaked US intelligence document paints a very different picture of the casualties in the war.
The document suggests that Russia has suffered between 189,500 and 223,000 casualties with up to 43,000 troops killed in action, while Ukraine has suffered between 124,500 and 131,000 casualties with up to 17,500 soldiers killed in action.
The leaked document was subsequently altered and shared around Russian Telegram accounts to falsely show the reverse: that Russia had suffered fewer casualties. But even those faked numbers were still lower casualty rates than what Carlson referenced.
A representative for Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider on Friday.
However, Carlson did say “Ukrainian air defenses have been utterly degraded,” which matches more closely what the leaked intelligence claims.
Ukraine’s air defenses, bolstered by Western equipment, have effectively countered Russia’s attacks throughout the more-than-year-long war in Ukraine. However, there’s evidence that Ukrainian air defense systems have been seriously degraded.
At the current rate of use, according to the leaked US documents, Ukrainian air defenses will “be completely reduced” by May 23, The New York Times previously reported.
“Ukraine is losing,” Carlson — a longtime opponent of US assistance to Ukraine — concluded. “The Biden administration is perfectly aware of this. They’re panicked about it, but they have lied about this fact to the public.”