Vice President Kamala Harris incorrectly asserted in a now-deleted tweet on Tuesday that the US was backing Ukraine against invading Russian soldiers in defense of the NATO alliance, implying that Ukraine was a member of the 30-nation group.
“When I was in Poland, I met with U.S. and Polish service members, thanking them for standing with our NATO allies for freedom, peace, and security,” the tweet from @KamalaHarris read. “The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people in defense of the NATO alliance.”
Around 8:30 p.m., the tweet was sent out. Tuesday. Very an hour later, around 9:20 p.m, a second, nearly identical tweet was sent out.
The revised tweet now reads, “When I was in Poland, I met with U.S. and Polish service members, thanking them for standing with our NATO allies for freedom, peace, and security. The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people and in defense of the NATO alliance.”
The only variation between the two posts is the addition of the word “and” in the second phrase, which clarifies that the United States supports Ukraine as well as NATO.
Both posts use wording from Vice President Harris’ statements at the Democratic National Committee’s winter conference over the weekend.
The Democratic National Committee controls the @KamalaHarris account, according to a representative for the vice president’s office. The DNC then told the publication that the term was accidentally omitted, so we removed it and replaced it with the correct words.
Many people on social media criticized the tweet before it was taken down, calling it “stupid” and “dangerous.”
Ukraine is not a NATO member, but Russia used Kyiv’s ostensible desire to join the alliance as pretext for its ruthless aggression, which began on February 24.
