A video is going viral that shows Lt Gen Rahul R Singh, Deputy Chief of Army Staff (CD&S) is admitting that India lost S-400 air defence systems during a recent military escalation with Pakistan in May 2025. However, when we fact-checked this claim, it was found to be digitally manipulated.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May 10.
What is going viral?
A purported video featuring Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Rahul R. Singh "admitting" to India allegedly losing S-400 defence systems during the military escalation with Pakistan in May 2025, was shared by an X user named 'Truth voice', with a caption "Indian Vice Army Chief Lieutenant General Rahul Singh, while addressing at FICCI, admitted that India is currently in talks with Russia to acquire two more S-400 systems after two S-400s were destroyed on May 10." Several other users also shared the same video with similar claim.
In the 1 minute 29 seconds video, the Deputy Chief of Army Staff said: "Few lessons that I thought I must flag as far as Operation Sindoor is concerned. Firstly, one border, two adversaries. So, we saw Pakistan on one side, but the adversaries were actually two, or perhaps three or four. We are currently in negotiations with Russia to get two S-400 systems by the end of August, which we lost to Chinese missiles on 10th May. But rest assured, our air defence will be fully operational soon. So Pakistan was the front face. We had China providing all possible support…"
Investigation
To know the truth, we conducted a customised keyword search to find relevant media reports that covered Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Rahul R. Singh. However, we did not find any such report anywhere in which he talked about the destruction of S-400. However, we found a news report published by India TV in which the Deputy Army Chief had said that India has defeated not only Pakistan, but three countries.
On further investigation, we found a post made by PIB on X. PIB in an X post clarified that the video going viral on social media is digitally manipulated. The original video is from a conference organised by FCCI India on July 4, and during his address, Lt Gen did not make any such statement.
"An altered video viral on social media is falsely claiming that Deputy Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Rahul R. Singh has admitted that India has lost the S-400 air defense system due to Chinese missiles. The video has been digitally manipulated. This video is of a conference organized by @ficci_india on 4 July 2025, and during his address, Deputy Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Rahul R. Singh did not make any such statement," the X post read.
What came out in the fact check?
The fact check has revealed that the video of Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt. Gen. Rahul R Singh has been digitally manipulated and made viral. He has not said anything about damage or loss to the S-400 systems during the military escalation with Pakistan in May 2025. People are advised to be cautious of any such video.
Also Read: Fact Check: Indian Railways installing solar panels between train tracks? Know truth
Also Read: Fact Check: Is legendary singer Asha Bhosle no more? Know truth behind viral social media claims