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Live updates: Trump’s presidential transition, Cabinet picks on Capitol Hill

Live updates: Trump’s presidential transition, Cabinet picks on Capitol Hill

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on December 16 in Palm Beach, Florida.

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday criticized the death toll in Russia’s war against Ukraine, claiming the death toll “on both sides” was likely much higher than reported.

“We’re trying to stop the war, this terrible, terrible war that’s raging in Ukraine, Russia, Ukraine,” Trump said Monday from Mar-a-Lago. “We’re going to make some progress, it’s a tough question, it’s a bad question, it’s bad.”

Trump then described vividly and in detail how Ukraine’s flat terrain contributes to the high death toll on the battlefield.

“People are being killed on a scale that no one has ever seen. They are very flat fields and the only thing that stops a bullet is a body, a human body,” the president-elect said.

Trump promised on his first day in office to end the war in Ukraine but has yet to offer a meaningful peace plan. Trump has warned that Ukraine is likely to receive less support from the United States after he takes office.

Regarding the war in Gaza, Trump said: “We are trying very hard to help get the hostages back.”

“We’re working very hard on it,” Trump said, without giving further details.

During his term as president, he repeatedly and falsely claimed that there were “no wars.” At least 65 U.S. soldiers died in hostilities during Trump’s time in office, according to military records. Trump was president during the Afghanistan war and as president he ordered a drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani at Baghdad airport.

This post has been updated with additional details.

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