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BBC Verify found no evidence for Donald Trump’s claim that every "drug boat" targeted off Venezuela or in the eastern Pacific would save 25,000 American lives. The White House offered no data, saying any boat "has the potential" to kill that many. With 73,690 overdose deaths reported between April 2023 and April 2024, Trump’s math would mean three boats avert a year’s toll—an assertion an epidemiologist called implausible, noting most fentanyl enters overland from Mexico. Separately, verified videos show a deadly explosion at a munitions plant in Russia’s Kopeisk; Izvestia reports 12 dead, cause unconfirmed.

Prepared by Emily Rhodes and reviewed by editorial team.